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THE REVELATION 

OF JESUS CHRIST 



A COMPREHENSIVE HARMONIC OUTLINE 
AND PERSPECTIVE VIEW 
OF THE BOOK 



BY 

Rev. D. Wesley Myland 

- v v 



THE EVANGEL PUBLISHING HOUSE 
3616 Phaikie Avenue 

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U. S. A. 
1911 



V 



COPYRIGHT 1911 
BY 

D. Wesley Myland 



PRICE 

One Dollar Postage, ten cents 

English... Four shillings, seven pence 

©GI.A297884 



CONTENTS 



Introduction iv 

Description vi 

I. Preliminary Survey 15 

II. Beatitudes and Songs 34 

III. The Messages to the Churches 60 

IV. The Messages to the Churches (Continued) . . 76 

V. The Messages to the Churches (Concluded)... 93 

VI. The Bride Enraptured Ill 

VII. The Seals Opened 129 

VIII. The Great Tribulation 147 

IX. Converging Lines of Vision 162 

X. Wrath and Judgment 189 

XL Christ Coming in Glory 217 

XII. The Consummation of All Things 238 



INTRODUCTION 



FTER the author of these lectures 
had studied for eighteen years the 
wonderful book, "The Revelation 
of Jesus Christ," God by His Spirit 
and by His Providence led to their 
delivery. 

While the discourses do not go 
into minute details, which would 
make the book tedious to the general reader, yet 
their inspirational character will make them valu- 
able to those who wish some knowledge of The 
Revelation, and yet have not the time to study 
this book of the Bible exhaustively. 

The wonderful unfolding of things in the im- 
mediate future will animate the heart and spur 
the reader on to greater zeal and sacrifice for God, 
and cause him to strive earnestly for the "Over- 
comer's" position. 

A careful reading of this volume will not only 
make some things plain that have hitherto been 
sealed to many, but the spiritual illumination, 
which accompanies the opening up of the truth, 
will flood the soul, and bring a blessing both to 
heart and mind. 

The author in this harmonic exegesis does not 
antagonize or deny any of the other three schools 
of interpretation, the Praeterist, the Historic and 
the Futurist, but in a large measure harmonizes 
them, making the truth most comprehensive as he 

iv 




INTRODUCTION 



brings the five "converging lines of vision" up to 
the Epiphany of the Lord Jesus. The vivid pic- 
ture of "things which must shortly come to pass," 
as they are outlined in The Book of Revelation, 
are unfolded in a way that will both thrill and 
startle. 

A study of this volume, or even a cursory read- 
ing, will lead one to see that the final events of the 
age are upon us ; that while God has been gather- 
ing together His people, Satan also is gathering 
his forces, and that the Antichristian powers of 
the world are beginning to head up. But the line 
of demarkation between the good and evil will 
be clearly seen only by those who understand the 
Word of God. Already, even many Christians 
are being deceived by the "lying wonders" and the 
"strong delusions" because they are not familiar 
with the prophetic word, and such will some day 
awaken to the awful fact that instead of having 
followed the Lord Jesus Christ, they have been 
serving the Antichrist. 

To those who are faithful and true to the end, 
comes the message from the Lord of glory : "Be- 
hold I come quickly: Blessed is he that keepeth 
the sayings of the prophecy of this book." 

William Hamner Piper. 
Chicago, October, 1911. 



v 



THE ISLAND AND THE CITIES 



Patmos 

Rev. i :g. 

PATMOS, the island on which the Apostle John re- 
ceived The Revelation of Jesus Christ, is in the 
Aegean Sea. Its greatest length is ten miles, and its 
greatest width six miles ; it is volcanic, bare and rocky. 

The only title of the island to fame is that it was 
the place of banishment of St. John, who was exiled 
thither under Domitian in 95 a. d., "for the Word of 
God and the testimony of Jesus," and released about 
eighteen months later on the tyrant's death. It was a 
dreaded place of banishment by the Romans. 

The modern town stands on a hill top in the southern 
half of the island. It clusters at the foot of the mon- 
astery of St. John, which, crowning the hill with its 
towers and battlements, resembles a fortress rather 
than a monastery. The streets are narrow and wind- 
ing, and the population is about 4,000. Scattered over 
the island are about three hundred chapels. At one 
time the library possessed about six hundred books, but 
there are only two hundred and forty left. 

On the road from the port of La Scala, on the east- 
ern side of the island, to the modern town which is 
about twenty minutes walk from La Scala, there is still 
shown a grotto in which the apostle is said to have re- 
ceived the heavenly vision of the Apocalypse. It is 
reached through a small chapel dedicated to St. Anne. 

The "Acts of St. John," attributed to Prochorus, one 
of his disciples narrates the miracles said to have been 
wrought by the apostle during his stay on the island. 

During the Dark Ages Patmos seems to have been 
entirely deserted, probably on account of pirates, but 
in 1088 the Emperor Alexis Comnenus by a golden bull 
which is still preserved, granted the island to St. Chris- 

vi 



THE ISLAND AND THE CITIES 



todulus for the purpose of founding a monastery. This 
was the origin of the monastery of St. John, which now 
owns the greater part of the Southern half of Patmos. 
At the beginning of the Eighteenth Century there were 
over a hundred monks but the number is now greatly 
reduced. The abbott has the rank of bishop and is sub- 
ject only to the patriarch of Constantinople. There is 
a school in connection with the monastery, which form- 
erly enjoyed a high reputation in that region. 

The modern town was recruited by refugees from 
Constantinople in 1453 and from Crete in 1669 when 
these places fell into the hands of the Turks. The 
island is subject to Turkey; the governor is the pasha 
of Rhodes, the population Greek. The women are chiefly 
engaged in knitting cotton stockings, which, along with 
some pottery, form the chief exports of the island. 

According to Greek tradition, the Apostle John wrote 
his Gospel in the village of Katavafsis, which no longer 
exists. 

The Seven Churches of Asia 

THE Seven Churches of Asia were all located in 
Proconsular Asia, in the immediate neighborhood 
of Ephesus. There were other churches besides these, 
as Hierapolis and Colosse, both near Laodicea, and re- 
ferred to in the Pauline Epistles; but these are named 
as the most important, and a group of seven is the ar- 
rangement most frequently found in the Bible, especi- 
ally in its symbolical writings. To the Seven Churches 
were sent the messages in the opening chapters of the 
Revelation. 

EPHESUS 
Rev. 2:1. 

1. Ephesus was the most important city of the dis- 
trict, its church was the largest, and it was the first 
addressed. It was the metropolis of Proconsular Asia, 
and may be regarded as the third capital of Christianity, 
as Jerusalem had been its birthplace, and Antioch the 

vii 



THE ISLAND AND THE CITIES 



center of its foreign missions. It stood a mile from 
the Aegean Sea, fronting an artificial harbor, in which 
met the ships of all lands, and above which rose the 
temple of Artemis (Diana), celebrated as the most 
magnificent building in Asia Minor, though the image 
which it enshrined was only a shapeless block. Its pop- 
ulation was principally Greek, though with a large 
Oriental mixture. Here Paul labored for more than 
two years, working at his trade and preaching the 
Gospel. Through his endeavors most of the "Seven 
Churches" were founded. Ephesus is now an utter 
desolation, haunted by wild beasts. Near its ruin is a 
small Turkish village called Ayasalouk. 

SMYRNA 
Rev. 2: 8. 

II. Smyrna is north of Ephesus, about forty miles 
in a direct line, though longer by the route of travel. 
It is on the Aegean Sea, at the head of the Hermaean 
Gulf, at the foot of Mount Pagus. The earliest city 
was built B. C. 1500, by the Greeks, and destroyed and 
rebuilt several times. From the time of Alexander the 
Great, who was one of its builders, it became an im- 
portant city. Its earliest mention in Christian history 
is in the Revelation. Polycarp, a pupil of John, was 
martyred here A. D. 155. His grave is still shown on 
a hill near the city. Despite fires, earthquakes and wars, 
it has retained its importance, and is now the largest 
city on the Asiatic side of the Aegean Sea, having a 
population of nearly 200,000 people. The modern city 
is about two miles from the ancient site. 

PERGAMOS 
Rev. 2:12. 

III. Pergamos, more properly Pergamum, was sixty 
miles northeast of Smyrna, in the district of Mysia, 
three miles north of the little river Caicus, and twenty 
miles from the Aegean Sea. It was the capital of a 
small but wealthy kingdom, which arose in the breaking 



viii 



THE ISLAND AND THE CITIES 



up of Alexander's empire. It was celebrated for its 
large library, which at one time contained 200,000 manu- 
scripts, but was by Mark Antony presented to Cleopatra, 
and removed to Alexandria. The city was devoted to 
the worship of Aesculapius, the patron divinity of 
medicine; and was, like most idolatrous places, corrupt 
in its morals. It is now a city of 25,000 inhabitants, 
called Pergama. 

THYATIRA 
Rev. 2:18. 

IV. Thyatira was a city in the province of Lydia, 
on the road from Pergamos to Sardis. It was founded 
by Alexander the Great, who planted it with people 
from Macedonia, which may account for the fact that 
"Lydia of Thyatira" was found by Paul at Philippi, in 
Macedonia. It was a prosperous manufacturing town, 
but never a great city, and its scarlet cloth still has a 
reputation throughout the Orient. It is now a place 
with a population of from 17,000 to 20,000, and is called 
ak Hissar, "white castle." 

SARDIS 
Rev. 3:1. 

V. Sardis lay thirty miles south of Thyatira, between 
the river Hermus and Mount Tmolus. It was the capi- 
tal of Croesus, the wealthy king of Lydia, whose empire 
was overthrown by Cyrus the Great. After the time of 
Alexander it belonged to the kingdom of Pergamos, un- 
til its absorption into the Roman empire. It was a 
place of extensive commerce, which led to prosperity 
and the worldliness of the Christian church, rebuked in 
the message of the Revelation. It is now a miasmatic 
region, with scarcely an inhabitant, and bears the name 
Sert Kalessi. 

PHILADELPHIA 
Rev. 3:7. 

VI. Philadelphia was about twenty miles southeast 
of Sardis, on the river Cogatnus, a branch of the Her- 

ix 



THE ISLAND AND THE CITIES 



mus. It was built and named by Attalus Philadelphia, 
King of Pergamos, and was the center of a rich farm- 
ing region, which has kept it inhabited through all the 
vicissitudes of the centuries. It was destroyed by an 
earthquake A. D. 17, but rebuilt. Its population is now 
about 10,000, and its modern name is Allah Shchr, "city 
of God." 

LAODICEA 
Rev. 3:14. 

VII. Laodicea was the capital of Phrygia, and was 
fifty or sixty miles from Philadelphia, according to 
route. It was on the bank of the Lycus, near Hiera- 
polis and Colosse. Its ancient name was Diospolis, but 
was changed by the Syrian king, Seleucus II., in honor 
of his wife, Laodice. In A. D. 62 it was destroyed by 
an earthquake; but its people were sufficiently rich to 
decline the aid of the Romans in rebuilding their city. 
Its worldly prosperity was reflected in its church, which 
received the sharpest rebukes of the Revelator. The 
Mohammedans destroyed the city, which is now a mass 
of ruins, surrounding a village called Eski-hissar. 

(The foregoing descriptions of the Seven Churches are taken 
from Dr. J. L. Hurlbut's Bible Atlas.) 



x 




AVE YOU visited the Cathedral of Frey- 
burg, and listened to that wonderful or- 
ganist who, with such enchantment, draws 
the tears from the traveler's eyes while he 
touches, one after another, his wonderful 
keys, and makes you hear by turns the 
march of armies upon the beach, or the 
chanted prayer upon the lake during the 
tempest, or the voices of praise after it is calm? Well, 
thus the Eternal God, embracing at a glance the key- 
board of sixty centuries, touches by turns, with the 
fingers of His Spirit, the keys which He had chosen for 
the unity of His celestial hymn. He lays His left hand 
upon Enoch, the seventh from Adam, and His right 
hand on John, the humble and sublime prisoner of Pat- 
mos. From the one the strain is heard : 'Behold the 
Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints;' from the 
other : 'Behold He cometh with clouds/ And between 
the notes of this hymn of three thousand years there is 
eternal harmony, and the angels stoop to listen, the elect 
of God are moved, and eternal life descends into men's 
souls." — Gauss en's Theopneustia. 



xii 




OMEONE has painted a picture of a maiden 
whose lover left her for a voyage to the 
Holy Land, promising on his return to make 
her his beloved bride. Many told her that 
she would never see him again. But she 
believed his word, and evening by evening- 
she went down to the lonely shore, and 
kindled there a beacon-light in sight of the 
roaring waves, to hail and welcome the returning ship 
which was to bring again her bethrothed. 

"Even so that blessed Lord, who has loved us unto 
death, has gone away to the mysterious Holy Land of 
heaven, promising on His return to make us His happy 
and eternal Bride. Some say that He has gone forever, 
and that we shall never see Him more. But His last 
word was, 'Yea, I come quickly.' And on the dark and 
misty beach sloping out into the eternal sea, each true 
believer stands by the love-lit fire, looking, and waiting, 
and praying and hoping for the fulfilment of His word, 
in nothing gladder than in His pledge and promise, and 
calling ever from the soul of sacred love, 'Even so, come, 
Lord Jesus/ And some of these nights, while the world 
is busy with its gay frivolities, and laughing at the 
maiden on the shore, a form shall arise over the surging 
waves, as once on Galilee, to vindicate forever all this 
watching and devotion, and bring to the faithful and 
constant heart a joy, and glory, and triumph which 
never more shall end." — Seiss. 



xiii 



BLESSED is he who readeth, and those who 
hear the words of the prophecy, and keep 
the things which are written therein: for the 
time is nigh." 

>fc >k >k 

HIM that overcometh will I make a pillar in 
the temple of My God, and he shall never- 
more go out : and I will write upon him the Name 
of My God, the New Jerusalem, that which de- 
scendeth out of heaven from My God : and I will 
write upon him My new Name." 

* * * 

THIS same Jesus, which is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as 
ye have seen Him go into heaven." 

"Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 



xiv 



I 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 

UR first lecture will, of necessity, 
be introductory. It will contain a 
great deal of outlying truth 
though not very much exposition. 
All through these talks I shall use 
Dr. Tregelles' translation, for that 
is considered by all Bible exposi- 
tors the very best translation of 
the Book of Revelation. It is truer to the origi- 
nal tongue than any other. I therefore use it for 
the illumination there is in it. 

Let me read the first paragraph of the book 
which covers the first three verses: 

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God 
gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things 
which must come to pass speedily ; and which He 
signified, having sent by His angel, unto His ser- 
vant John: who testified the Word of God, and 
the testimony of Jesus Christ, what things so- 
ever he saw. Blessed is he who readeth, and 
those who hear the words of the prophecy, and 
keep the things which are written therein: for 
the time is nigh/' 

Now the title of this book, as given in our 
regular versions, is a misnomer. It is not "The 
Revelation of St. John the Divine;" it is "The 
Revelation of Jesus Christ/' by, to or through 
St. John. S« the first five words of the book 

15 




THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



give us the title. It was given to John and writ- 
ten by him while he was in exile, having been sent 
to the Isle of Patmos by the Roman Emperor 
Domitian about the year 95 A. D. It is a vision 
of the glorified Christ. John was shown every- 
thing that pertains to His glory in the heavens 
and also that which pertains to His judgments 
upon the earth. These things were shown him 
fifty years after the Lord Jesus had returned to 
heaven, all of which makes it a very striking 
book, beyond all others in the Bible. 

Now this word "Revelation" is from the Greek 
word apocalypsis, the opposite of apocrypha; that 
is to say, a book that is open, a book in which 
everything is uncovered, unfolded, open to view ; 
just the opposite of mystery, of apocrypha, which 
is something concealed or held back as not author- 
ized or needful to us ; hence the apocrypha is out 
of the regular canon of the Holy Scriptures. 
Many people study the apocrypha and recommend 
it rather than this book. They say, "This book is 
hidden, you cannot understand it." It is the very 
opposite of that; it is the book of revelation, the 
book of vision, of things to view and things to 
get ready for. I suppose it is not understood bet- 
ter because of following the teaching of certain 
schools, schools of half light, half truth, and con- 
cerning them I must speak a moment, so you will 
understand from what position I present you this 
book. 

I am going to read an extract from a little 
pamphlet Dr. Chapell and I prepared eighteen 

16 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



years ago, when I began the study of this book 
in a special way, and wore out during that special 
study part of four Bibles. 

"We are not going to allude to the theories of 
post millennialists at all, those who look for the 
kingdom before the coming of the Lord. Let 
us understand that. Neither are we going to 
allude to the theories of those Adventists who 
believe that the career o-f man in the flesh ends 
with the coming of the Lord ; but rather we are 
referring now to the different phases of belief 
in the great body of all intelligent pre-millen- 
nialists, who are looking for the coming of the 
Lord as a crucial and culminative point in the 
plan of redemption. All of these are in substan- 
tial agreement and in harmony of sentiment and 
action." 

I have no desire to parade and magnify their 
differences; differences which grow out of the 
fact that each emphasizes some shade or phase 
of this truth. Dr. Chapell and I felt called bv 
the Lord to bring all these shades of truth, all 
these aspects of prophecy each of which contains 
truth, together in one harmonic whole. Time will 
decide all details of the various shades of truth, 
and as we get nearer to the parousia of the Lord, 
we shall come nearer together. I am satisfied of 
that and my heart is glad to meet anybody and 
talk about these deep things of God. So now if 
you will be just as free in the Spirit as I am, God 
will help us and bless us as we study this wonder- 
ful book. 



17 



THE REVELATION OE JESUS CHRIST 



We shall allude to these different schools only 
for the sake of information, especially for the 
sake of beginners who may be perplexed in what 
they read from time to time. For example, one 
writer in speaking of the Antichrist may refer 
to the Roman Papacy; another in speaking of 
the same subject may refer to some mighty in- 
fidel king that will he developed; another to 
some great Mohammedan leader. We believe 
that the Papacy and Mohammedanism, that is to 
say the beast and the false prophet, and the powers 
of the nations will all culminate in, and combine 
together, to produce the fulness of the power of 
the Antichrist. 

Four Schools of Interpretation 

Now we want to look at the four schools. 
First, the Praeterist; those who suppose that 
standard prophecies like Matt. 24 and this book 
of Revelation were all fulfilled before and soon 
after the destruction of Jerusalem, and yet that 
cannot be, for the book of Revelation was written 
after the destruction of Jerusalem. 

The second is what we call the Presentist or 
Historical school which holds that prophecies like 
Matt. 24 and the book of Revelation cover the 
whole church period and have been in process of 
fulfillment all down through the ages, and some 
day will come to an end and the Lord will come, 
just as we come to the end of a book or a song. 
This school generally adopts what we call the 
year-day theory in regard to such dates as are 

18 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



contained in Daniel, Chapters 7, 11 and 12. It 
considers the Pope or Papacy as Antichrist, be- 
lieves that the rapture of the saints in glory and 
the coming to earth of the Lord with His saints 
will be simultaneous and likely to occur at any 
time — that is to say, the parousia and the epiphany 
are one and the same event. 

The most prominent advocate of this school, 
present and historic, who is now living, is that 
mighty and blessed man of God, Dr. H. Grattan 
Guinness of England. I am glad to tell you that 
they now are beginning to see along the line of 
what w r e call the new harmonic school. Dr. 
Guinness has done much to advance the cause of 
missions, so do all who have any conception of a 
pre-millennial coming of the Lord. That view 
of the case makes mission-workers, puts the fire 
in your soul, puts in the "go ye" until everybody's 
feet tingle to go with the message. This school 
holds that the great and double denouement of 
the Lord's coming is liable to occur at any mo- 
ment. This theory, of course, was not and could 
not be held by the Early Church, since no such 
Antichrist as the papacy then existed. It arose 
with the reformers in Martin Luther's time and 
because of what Martin Luther and his people 
endured at the hands of Rome, they called her 
Antichrist. It became the historic teaching, con- 
sequently is more or less incorporated into the 
common thought of all Protestantism. 

Now I come to the third, called the Futurist 
school, the very opposite of the Praeterist. This 

19 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



holds that everything is yet future, that the stand- 
ard prophecies I have already mentioned in 
Matthew, Daniel and Revelation, are yet to have 
a literal, minute fulfillment, mainly during a per- 
iod of seven years or Daniel's last week, during 
which a personal Antichrist shall hold sway over 
the earth, or at least over the ancient Roman 
earth, that old Roman Empire being revived and 
composed of ten subordinate kingdoms — the toes 
of the great image. There is some truth in this 
theory which the other schools do not take up. 
Put these three phases together and what will 
you have? You will have all the truth there is 
in the Bible on this subject harmonized. This 
Futurist school holds that prophetic days are not 
year-days, just the opposite of the other schools; 
it holds that a considerable period will intervene 
between the paroitsidjthe coming of Christ for His 
saints, and the epiphany or the coming of Christ 
with His saints to earth, but they are not quite 
agreed what that period will be. Some of these 
teachers think it will be three and a half years, 
half of the week ; others think it will be the whole 
week, seven years. According to this theory, po- 
litical, religious and other changes may be look- 
ed for, as the signs of the approaching advent, 
and while the rapture of the church may occur 
with very little warning, marked events will take 
place before that great day when "the Lord Jesus 
shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty 
angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them 



20 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

This is the theory that troubled the Thessalon- 
ian church ; the Early Church got hold of the ex- 
treme "futurist" theory and they thought that 
Christ had already come. Therefore Paul had 
to write a second letter and say, "It cannot come, 
beloved, until the man of sin is revealed until Hj^LzATT/^ 
t^ytP^ 1 (the Holy Spirit) who is holding down and keep- 
ing things together, is taken out of the way. 
Then shall the wicked one be revealed, the Anti- 
christ." II. Thess. 2:1-10. This may be shown 
from many citations from the Church Fathers. 
The theory fell into obscurity during the Middle 
Ages, especially after the rise of the historic 
school, which sprang up after the Reformation, 
but it was revived again in the stirring times at 
the beginning of the Nineteenth Century. 

Perhaps the ablest living advocate of this 
"futurist" school, is G. H. Pember, who wrote 
that most comprehensive work, "The Great Proph- 
ecies;" another Englishman, a prominent min- 
ister of the church of England, for we have some 
grand teaching coming out of the Church of Eng- 
land, the best mother of theology I know of in 
the world. Of course, if you want a good, hard- 
headed father you go to the Scotch church, but 
the Church of England has brought down rivers 
of truth from God's Word. But she dwelt too 
much in the Word and lost much of the Spirit. 
Let us who are getting the overflowing of the 
Spirit in these days not miss the accuracy and 

21 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



value and power of the Word of God. It is easy 
to drift and be one-sided. 

Now we come to the school I joined eighteen 
years ago. Dr. Chapell, who has long since 
gone to glory, and I, knelt in a room down in 
New York City until two o'clock in the morning, 
praying and talking about the things of God, and 
he said to me, "I see you seemed to put things to- 
gether in your message tonight, in a harmonic 
way. I guess you are both an Arminian and a 
Calvinist." I said, "I am; I have an Arminian 
heart and a good Calvinistic backbone to hang 
it on, and a good Baptist head not afraid to go 
under water." 

Now the fourth school is called the compre- 
hensive or harmonic school. That has not 
been recognized as a distinct school until very 
recent years, and so it sounds a little strange, but 
it is now growing in favor, and the advocates of 
all the other three schools are coming rapidly in- 
to it and seeing the parts of truth they each hold, 
all being put together, and coming to "see eye to 
eye, when the Lord shall build again Zion," and 
therein is the prophecy fulfilled right in itself. 
Its position is that the Praeterist, the Historic and 
the Futurist schools are in the main correct, ex- 
cept as they deny each other. You will find it 
much the same in any other line of truth, that we 
are all correct in the main except as we deny each 
other. Now let us quit denying each other, and 
let us get to the main thing. God will bless us 
and we > shall all be good workers together with 

22 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



Christ. Don't pay so much attention to that 
which denies, that which crosses, but pay more 
attention to that which harmonizes, moves togeth- 
er. It is claimed by advocates of this school that 
the Bible is so wisely constructed by divine fore- 
sight that its prophecies have more than one ap- 
plication, and we may miss some of them if we 
lay too much emphasis on any one phase; first, a 
shadowy and general, and afterwards a more dis- 
tinct and specific fulfillment; the general point- 
ing on down to the consummation, when the spe- 
cific occurs, and when every eye can see the ful- 
fillment. Just as for example, the Old Testament 
converged to the first coming of Christ, until 
everybody could see it, so will it be now in the 
time of the second coming of Christ, when the 
general and historic aspects of prophecy converge 
into the specific at the time of the Consumma- 
tion. 

Now in this line the prophet Isaiah speaks of 
the servant of the Lord in a double sense, mean- 
ing first, the nation of Israel with its history, and 
afterwards the Lord Jesus Himself. On the 
other hand the prophecies of Antichrist may re- 
fer first to the papacy through the centuries,' and 
afterwards be fulfilled in a personal false christ, 
whose career will last for only a few years; for, 
as John informed them, "the spirit of Antichrist 
is working now." By and by it will fill a man and 
head up into a man, just as the Spirit of God did 
in the Lord Jesus. The testimony of the Lord 
Jesus Himself is the spirit of all the prophecy 



2 r \ 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



that came down and was fulfilled in the man 
Christ Jesus. So you see we have to keep our 
eyes open on all sides. A great deal of Scrip- 
ture, is double-barrelled and some even three- 
barrelled. That is, it has a literal, a spiritual, 
and a dispensational bearing. 

I do not take much credit for it, but we began 
to preach these things when we began an unde- 
nominational work, where we had liberty, and 
therein is the advantage, after all, of any man 
being free from all "creeds" and "communions/' 
He can get all the truth and the whole Gospel in 
Christ Jesus without let or hindrance, and many 
are sure to receive it. 

The greatest exponent of this "Harmonic" school 
in many ways is the Rev. Mr. Baxter of England. 
They are all three Englishmen that I have men- 
tioned. They have gone into this subject in a 
more persistent, strenuous way than we have on 
this side. There must be therefore some truth 
in this harmonic school. History confirms the 
position of some things in the historical or pres- 
entist school, and many things confirm the posi- 
tion of the praeteristic school and many things 
confirm the view of the futurist school. There 
must therefore be truth in all these theories. 

Scriptures like Isaiah 14, Daniel 11, II Thess. 
2 and Revelation 13, have such distinct, specific 
and personal elements in them that the historic 
fulfillment can by no means exhaust them. There 
is a time and a place yet before us when these 
great passages I have referred to will have a 

24 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



startling fulfillment before the eyes of this world. 
Look at Revelation 13 ! Most of that is yet fu- 
ture; nearly every phase of it, and II Thess. 2. 
Therefore it is concluded there must be truth 
also in the futurist school. If then all three of 
these views contain truth, will they not be found 
to harmonize? Can we not harmonize them by 
the grace of God? We trust to be able to do 
this in the expositions of this book of Revelation. 
Therefore, I come to you antagonizing nobody 
who believes in the true millennial coming of 
the Lord, but harmonizing all three views of it. 

The Book Outlined 

Now just a little pre-view of the book. I have 
read the first three verses. The principle verse 
of the book is verse 1, "The Revelation of Jesus 
Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto 
His servants things which must come to pass 
speedily ; and which He signified, having sent by 
His angel, unto His servant John:" 

This introduces the subject and the continuous 
thought of the book, the Revelation of Jesus 
Christ, His forth-shining in the heavens and prep- 
aration to come to the earth. The characteris- 
tic word of the book is, "overcome." It is to 
make overcomers through the Great Overcomer, 
Jesus Christ. In John 16:33 He said when He 
was going away, leaving His little infant church, 
His little flock in the world, "Be of good cheer, 
you are going to have tribulation, but be of good 
cheer, I have overcome the world/' and now He 



2 5 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



is saying through His Revelation here, overcome, 
overcome, overcome! He that overcometh be- 
comes an overcomer, and will sit with the Great 
Overcomer on His throne, as He overcame and 
sat down with His Father on His throne. He k 
seated on His Father's throne now, but when 
His own throne shall be erected we shall sit there 
with Him. You cannot get a share until Christ 
gets His throne and you may have a place on it 
by being an overcomer. 

Just twelve times this word is used in the book, 
a comprehensive term, representative of the 
twelve patriarchs, twelve apostles, twelve gates to 
the city, and I think I can see the overcomers 
coming up and going in at the twelve gates to 
the Holy City, but nobody else can enter there. 

The key text is in Chapter I, verses 11 and 19. 
Verse 11, "What thou s»eest write in a book and 
send it to the seven churches," and verse 19, 
"Write, therefore, the things which thou saw est 
and the things which are and the things which 
are about to come to pass hereafter" You have 
the key to the whole book in those two verses. 
The time is nigh, "what thou seest," past, pres- 
ent and future; that is where the praeterist, the 
presentist and the futurist each have some truth 
in them, and by putting these three mighty words, 
"sawest" "are" and "hereafter" of tke Lord to- 
gether, we come to the truth as it is in Jesus, and 
begin to see eye to eye. When God blazed those 
letters out to me at two o'clock in the morning 
in New York City, I said to my brother, "We 



26 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



have found the secret, past, present and future.'' 
Does not His very Name indicate that? 
"Jehovah'"' is past, present and future, for the 
Hebrew name of God is a three-fold word, 
"Ja-Ho-Vah," a past, a present and a future God. 
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and for- 
ever, Prophet, Priest and King. Yesterday He 
was a Prophet when He was on earth, the Truth 
Teller, the true Pioneer and Forth See-er ; today 
He is 3 Priest, the High Priest, at the Father's 
right hand, for us; but tomorrow He is coming 
to be our glorious King. He is coming speedily 
and He has the seven spirits in His hands, the 
seven stars for the seven candle-sticks, glory to 
His Name. See that you are in the seven candle 
sticks — the true church of the "first born." 

Now I give a general outline and statement of 
the book 

First, it is a book of consummations, as the 
book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible is a 
book of "beginnings;" the beginning of the 
universe, the beginning of man, the beginning of 
sin in the earth, the beginning of redemption, the 
beginning of nations the beginning of the Hebrew 
race, and the beginning of the life of faith in the 
call of Abraham. All these seven great begin- 
nings are in the book of Genesis, which means 
beginning, and the book of Revelation is the book 
of consummation, and herein we put the Bible 
together, and everything between is pushing for- 
ward to the other — the beginnings to the end 
and the commencements to the consummation. 



27 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



There are seven consummations. First, the con- 
summation of the church period, the calling out of 
the bride of Christ from the church. Second, the 
consummation of the mystery of the body or bride 
of Christ, called out and now called up to meet 
her Lord in the air. Paul says that is the mystery 
of the Bible, and he says he was called to be a 
special apostle to have that mystery given to him 
to unfold, and if we hadn't had Paul we never 
would have known the mystery of the body of 
Christ. 

The third consummation is the consummation 
of all evil, headed up in the Antichrist as Satan's 
servant, assisted by the false prophet, and all 
other forms of evil, the consummation of evil. 
Right after the Bride is taken up, all evil will 
concentrate and its consummation will come, but 
thank God I do not expect to be here and I hope 
you will not. Be an overcomer and "escape all 
these things that are coming to pass on the earth, 
and stand before the Son of Man/' Luke 21 :36. 

The fourth consummation is the consummation 
of Judgment, following the consummation of 
evil ; Consummation of judgment on the world 
for two things: its rejection of Christ, and its 
persecution of those who are Christ's. The fifth 
is the consummation of the Kingdom of God in 
this world, that kingdom that has been prophe- 
sied and promised to God's people through all 
the ages. The saints shall rule the world, the 
saints shall judge the angels ,the saints shall in- 
herit the kingdom, and it shall never be taken 



28 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



away from them. There is something before us, 
beloved, that ought to set our blood tingling to 
work for Christ as we never did before. 

The sixth is the consummation of the rewards 
of all that are faithful and obey the Lord, and all 
the punishments of all that are enemies to Him 
and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. And 
finally, seventh, in the finale of the book, the con- 
summation of unlimited, unfailing and unending, 
eternal glory; for remember, God's answer to 
Moses' prayer was, "Moses, I have forgiven all 
their sins. Nevertheless, as I live the whole 
earth shall be filled with the glory of God/' You 
notice that statement occurs here for the first 
time. God is looking forward. He called those 
Hebrews out for a purpose; it was to fill this 
earth with His glory, as the devil has filled it 
with sin and shame and suffering. 

Second, it is the unfoldings of the perfec- 
tions of Christ in glory. As you get the vis- 
ion that John did up there, you know what it will 
be down here. 

Third, it is a book of sevens.. That means 
the perfection of completeness and the com- 
pleteness of perfection. I have to put it that way. 
I will tell you why: Here are first, seven spirits, 
or seven phases of the spirit "lamps," which 
means the same. Second, seven angels or minis- 
ters, or stars, which mean seven men, seven pas- 
tors in the churches. Third, seven churches, 
"candle sticks." Fourth, seven seals; fifth, seven 
trumpets, one introducing the other all along. 

21) 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST* 



Sixth, seven thunders, and seventh, seven vials 
or bowls. . Seven times seven moving along to 
the last one, all culminating you see in the com- 
pleteness or fulness of perfection, and what I 
like about it is, it is a type of the old forty-nine 
years, seven times seven, the perfect cycle that in- 
troduces the year of jubilee, of liberty and free- 
dom, and of full redemption. So when you get 
these seven times seven, the perfect cycle of the 
working out of the Spirit's messages to the 
church and judgment of the world — everything 
included, it will introduce the great jubilee cycle 
to this world, "the year of jubilee." 

But there is here also a trinity of sevens on the 
heavenly side. Here are the seven beatitudes of the 
book of Revelation. The way the Lord got me 
into this book of Revelation was by starting me 
one morning in October, eighteen years ago on 
the first "blessed" and I just got to ruminating 
around in that word, and I saw there were seven 
"blesseds" in this book. I started to preach seven 
sermons on the seven beatitudes of the book and 
the whole book began to open up. Then I start- 
ed in with another seven, and after that with a 
third, and such a time we had that winter! I 
suppose we received nearly fifty souls into the 
church while preaching that series on the trinity 
of sevens. 

Now there are seven "beatitudes/' seven great 
"songs," and seven "overcomeths," and I often 
think that the seven blesseds of the Lord are to 
start you into the seven songs, the perfect praise 

30 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



life, and that will bring you out as a perfect 
overcomer. I see logic in it, a progression, the 
law of the development of doctrine in the New 
Testament, we call it. 

Now in conclusion : This book can only be un- 
derstood by praying, and paying attention to 
three important words to which the church of 
the Lord Jesus Christ has not given enough at- 
tention. The first is the word that gives the book 
its name, "Revelation." It is a revelation of 
divine truth and contains the message communi- 
cated to man ; therefore it is the message of God 
to man. Today we need this revelation to be 
communicated to us in a double way, both 
through the Word and by the Spirit. Many peo- 
ple pay so close attention to what is written and 
given by the Lord that they cannot hear the voice 
of the Spirit of God. Here too, we need to be 
"harmonized." How shall I know what voice it 
is but by the Word, and how shall I get the life 
that is in the Book only by the Spirit who gave it ? 

The second book-word is inspiration, and in- 
spiration is the manner or means of communica- 
ting the revelation. Revelation is purely in the 
Eternal One, in God Himself, but inspiration is 
the means whereby the revelation is made known 
to us. Inspiration is always made to or in our 
emotions, our sensibilities. So we always say he 
was "moved," never "convinced." Thus the 
prophets foretold things they did not fully un- 
derstand in their intellects, as Peter tells us. I 
Pet. 1:10-12; II Pet. 1:19-21. 

31 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



So too, people are getting inspiration today in 
Pentecostal meetings, which they do not under- 
stand, and they need some good teacher to help 
them. Men spoke as they were moved by the 
Holy Ghost. Moved, is the word ; never convinced 
or enlightened, and that is always in the emotions. 
Now don't run off and have all your life in the 
emotions, and say the mind or intellect is of no 
value ; otherwise God will have to double up 
somebody else with you, who lives chiefly in the 
intellect in order to make one man. "All scrip- 
ture is given by inspiration of God." 

Now we come to the third great word that we 
need in these days and for the comprehension of 
this book, and that is the word "illumination ;" 
the word for our minds. Illumination gives us 
light and makes a matter plain, just as light 
makes your face plain to me. Suppose we had 
no illumination in this house ; there would be tin- 
certainty and confusion. 

Illumination is the way to understand revela- 
tion that is given by inspiration; it is the ability 
to understand what has been revealed through 
inspiration. It is the quickening of the mind, the 
illumination of the soul. In the perfect prayer-life 
we are moved by the seven-fold Spirit of God, 
namely, Spirit of truth, Spirit of light, Spirit of 
life, Spirit of holiness, Spirit of love, Spirit of 
power and Spirit of wisdom, but His first opera- 
tion is always as the Spirit of truth, to make us 
know, and to illuminate our minds. The measure 
of our illumination will be determined by the 



32 



PRELIMINARY SURVEY 



amount of study we give to God's Word. 

People get many impressions from the Spirit 
of God, impressions in their work when they are 
praying for others when resisting some evil power 
in another, and when laboring for the Lord in 
various ways. These are forms of inspiration, 
spiritual thoughts, and some say, "I know just 
because I do know," but you cannot prove any- 
thing until you go to the Bible. You cannot 
prove a thing by your inspiration alone ; you can- 
not prove a thing by visions or dreams, or by 
utterance in inspiration under the Holy Spirit. 
"Try the spirits" — "prove all things." You can 
only prove things by the Word of God. So the 
minute I get a new touch from the Holy Spirit 
I go right to my Bible and say, "Lord, speak to 
me out of your Word, and when He does and I 
get out my pencil and mark it, then it is put down 
in my head. Your emotions cannot keep inspira- 
tion, but when you get a thing registered and 
filed away in the great library of your mind it is 
there to stay. 

The greatest power in these days is not in- 
spiration, but the great thing is to get our minds 
subdued, conquered and illuminated. I pray 
that every one who will "hear the words of the 
prophecy of this book" may be illuminated by 
the Holy Ghost to understand it, and that it will 
be made a power in their lives, for the time 

is NIGH. 



S3 



II 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 

HE second lecture will be a dis- 
cussion of the seven "Blesseds" or 
Beatitudes of the book and of the 
Seven Songs ; the other set in this 
special trinity of sevens, the seven 
"Overcomeths", will be deferred 
for a later lecture. Then we shall 
give an outline of the first chap- 
ter which is composed of four sections, and also 
state the plan of the entire book. 

I. THE SEVEN BEATITUDES. 
First Beatitude. 

1$ Blessed is he who readeth, and those who hear 
the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which 
are written therein : for the time is nigh. Rev. 1 : 3. 

The special blessing of God is here promised 
to the eyes, to the ears and to the heart of those 
who read it. You may have that beatitude of 
God as a continual vision before your eyes, as 
the constant voice of the Spirit in your ears and 
as an everlasting inspiration in your heart, if 
you will diligently study this book. Beloved, 
you would take the time to study it if you knew 
what joy it afforded me in the fifteen years I 
have wept over it, shouting between times. May 
God flash this first beatitude before your eyes, 
sound it in your ears, and cause your heart to 




34 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



swell with the emotion and inspiration of it 
throughout your whole life! 

Second Beatitude. 

*I And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write, 
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from hence- 
forth : yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from 
their labours, for their works do follow them." 
Rev. 14:13. 

This is the beatitude of the release through 
death of God's people who are left on the earth, 
and who shall have suffered in the tribula- 
tion days. In the midst of the tribulation these 
cry out to the Lord and He delivers them, and 
pronounces this beatitude upon them, "Yea, saith 
the Spirit, for they rest from their labors and 
their works do follow them." This is one section, 
as we shall see more clearly by and by, of tribu- 
lation saints. We preachers have used that verse 
as a text for funeral sermons many times and that 
is all right for all scripture has its spiritual and 
personal application, but in the tribulation days 
it wall have an immediate and full application. 

Third Beatitude. 

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that 
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, 
and they see his shame." Rev. 16:15. 

This is a blessing on the watching and ready 
ones; that is those who shall then be living; 
these prepared ones will constitute the second 
section in the tribulation week when He shall 
come as a thief in the night, preparatory to His 



35 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



epiphany. Blessed are they who watch and keep, 
and refuse the mark, name and image of the beast 
in those awful days. 

Fourth Beatitude. 

H And he saith unto me, "Write, Blessed are those 
who have been called unto the marriage supper of the 
Lamb." And he saith unto me, 'These are the true 
words of God." Rev. 19:9. 

This is the great, central beatitude, and takes 
us all in. Blessed, happy ! It means beauty also 
and that is why they are called beatitudes. God 
puts some of His beauty on us who have an invi- 
tation to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the 
wedding feast. We consider it quite an honor to 
be invited to some weddings, but the Holy Spirit 
will some day give you a little sealed card that 
nobody knows but yourself, a little white stone 
written within; it will be an invitation to come 
to the marriage supper of the Lamb, where you 
will sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, 
and with the prophets and apostles. That will 
be blessed, but I want to tell you, you must get 
the character now that will warrant the invita- 
tion then. 

Fifth Beatitude. 

<J Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
resurrection : over these the second death hath no 
power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ 
and shall reign with him the thousand years. Rev. 20 : 6. 

A great beatitude, a blessing, a joy and a 
beauty, the very beauty of being made like 
Christ! This will be to everyone that has part 

36 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 

in the first resurrection. Are you going to live 
for that ? x\nd if the spirit must leave your body 
before Jesus comes are you going to die in that 
faith? Are you in the first resurrection rank, 
sleeping or waking? There will be no second 
place for anybody who is all the Lord's. First 
place in this life, first place in death, first out of 
the grave, first place when Jesus comes, first 
place on the throne — these are our privileges. I 
tell you I reckon that the trials and the suffer- 
ings are not worthy to be compared to the glory 
that shall be revealed. Don't go down to your 
place of business, or to your kitchen and be a 
murmurer any more. Don't do it! At a con- 
vention I attended last summer we changed the 
old song : 'There'll be no more sorrow there," to : 
"There'll be no grumblers there!" How they 
sang it! Beloved, do everything with praise to 
God. 

"Blessed is he that hath part in the first resur- 
rection," shouts all the way through, clear 
through to the grave. The grave need have no 
terrors for the Christian. The body may lie in 
the earth a little while, but the Holy Spirit will 
go down to the dust, and bring it up in that glor- 
ious day. 

Sixth Beatitude. 

^ "And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that 
keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.*' 
Rev. 22:7. 

"Blessed," especially blessed, the Greek makes 

it, "is he who keeps (has kept, past perfect 



87 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



tense) the sayings of these prophecies/' Oh 
but the world has thrown them away! Bible 
students neglect them, pastors don't preach 
them; nevertheless, blessed is the one who has 
kept the prophecies of this book, for there is 
given him the place that is described, such a 
place as no king of earth could give you. 

Seventh Beatitude. 

^ "Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they 
may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14. 

This is the beatitude of blessing on the 
obedient; the other was "keepeth the teachings," 
but you will never obey what you have not re- 
ceived into your heart and believe. They tell us 
our works are far behind our faith, but I will 
tell you this solemnly, no man's works ever ex- 
ceeded his faith. God takes no kind of works 
beyond faith. This is the work of God that ye 
believe on Him whom He hath sent. 

II. THE SEVEN SONGS. 

The next in this trinity is the seven songs. I 
used to preach seven sermons on these, calling 
them the Wedding Bells with seven chimes. They 
are fine chimes, too, for they bring people to 
church. 

First: Creation Song. 

€J "Thou art worthy, O Lord and our God, to receive 
glory and honor and power: because THOU createdst 
all things, and because of thy pleasure they were, and 
were created/' Rev. 4:11. 



38 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



Let me say that in the beatitudes and es- 
pecially in the songs of this book, there is a 
progressive development both logical and doc- 
trinal. You can not start with any other than 
the creation song, the song of beginnings. From 
Genesis and elsewhere we know it is a three-fold 
song of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

Second: Atonement Song. 

^ And they sing a new song, saying, 'Thou art 
worthy to take the roll, and to open the seals thereof : 
because thou wast slain, and redeemedst us to God by 
thy blood out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, 
and nation; and thou madest them unto our God a 
kingdom and priests : and they reign on the earth." And 
I saw, and I heard as the voice of many angels around 
the throne and the living creatures and the elders : and 
the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thou- 
sands of thousands ; saying with a loud voice, "Worthy 
is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive power, and 
riches, and wisdom, and might, and honour, and glory, 
and blessing." And every creature which is in heaven, 
and on the earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, 
and all things that are in them, heard I saying, "Unto 
him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, 
be blessing and honour, and glory, and dominion, for- 
ever and ever." Rev. 5 : 9-14. 

This Atonement Song follows logically the 
Song of Creation. By carefully reading the 
items of praise in the twelfth verse you will see 
it is seven-fold, just as the other is three-fold. 
All the great, seven claims that belong to re- 
demption are mentioned here. 

Third: Salvation Song. 

After these things I saw, and behold, a great mul- 
titude, which no one could number, out of every nation, 
and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing in the 



29 



/ 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 

presence of the throne and in the presence of the Lamb 
— clothed with white robes — and palms in their hands; 
and they cry with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to 
our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb." And all the angels stood around the throne 
and around the elders and the four living creatures, and 
they fell before the throne on their faces, and wor- 
shipped God, saying, "Amen : Blessing, and glory, and 
wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and 
might, be unto our God forever and ever. Amen." 
Rev. 7 : 9-12. 

This is the song of salvation and of grace. 
They sing it who have been saved through the 
atonement, believing Jesus. It is a song of 
thanksgiving for the riches of His grace, that 
Paul in Ephesians talks so much about. 

Fourth : Song of Power. 

^ And the seventh angel sounded ; and there were 
great voices in heaven — saying, "The sovereignty of the 
world became the sovereignty of our Lord and of his 
Christ; and he shall reign forever and ever." And the 
twenty-four elders, who sit in the presence of God on 
their thrones, fell upon their faces, and worshipped 
God, saying, "We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the 
Almighty, the one who is, and who was, because thou 
hast taken thy great power, and didst reign. And the 
nations were angered, and thy wrath came, and the 
time of the dead, to be judged, and to give the reward 
unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and 
those who fear thy name, the small and the great; and 
to destroy those who destroy the earth." Rev. 11 : 15-18. 

This is the song of power, the song of do- 
minion, the regal song, the kingdom song, the 
song of rewards and of reigning power, and is 
the fourth in the list of seven, hence is the key- 
stone in the Arch of Songs, just where the song 
of power ought to be. 



4ft 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



Fifth : Song of Redemption. 

1§ And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the 
Mount Zion, and with him an hundred and forty and 
four thousand, having his name and his Father's name 
written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from 
heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as a voice 
of great thunder : and the voice which I heard was as 
that of harpers harping with their harps : and they sing 
as it were, a new song in the presence of the throne, 
and in the presence of the four living creatures and the 
elders : and no one was able to learn the song but the 
hundred and forty and four thousand, who have been 
redeemed from the earth. These are those who were 
not defiled with women; for THEY are virgins, those 
who follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth : these 
were redeemed from among men, a first-fruit to God 
and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no 
falsehood: for they are without blemish. Rev. 14:1-5. 

This is the song of physical redemption, the 
Hebrew song; no one could learn to sing this 
song but those who have been redeemed from 
the power of the Antichrist in the midst of the 
week who have the seal of God on their fore- 
heads. These are made up of twelve thousand 
out of every tribe, 144,000 in all. One tribe is 
left out for a specific reason, and another put in 
for just as specific a reason. 

Sixth : The Song of Victory. 

^ And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with 
fire; and those that had gotten the victory from the 
beast, and from his image, and from the number of 
his name, standing on the sea of glass having harps of 
God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of 
God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and 
marvelous are thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty; 
righteous and true are thy ways, thou King of the 
nations." Rev. 15 : 2-3. 

This is sung by those who have obtained the 

victory over the beast, and over his name and 



41 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



image during the last half of the tribulation week, 
or the early part of the tribulation that some 
exegetes make the great tribulation time. 

Seventh : The Wedding Song. 

^ After these things I heard as it were a great 
voice of much people in heaven, saying, "Alleluia; the 
salvation, and glory, and power, of our God: because 
true and righteous are his judgments; because he 
judged the great harlot, who did corrupt the earth with 
her fornication, and he avenged the blood of his ser- 
vants at her hand." And the second time they said, 
"Alleluia !" And her smoke goeth up forever and 
ever. And the twenty-four elders and the four living 
creatures fell down and worshipped God that sitteth 
on the throne, saying, "Amen; Alleluia." And a voice 
came out from the throne, saying, "Praise our God, all 
ye his servants, and ye that fear him; the small and the 
great." And I heard as it were the voice of a great 
multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the 
voice of mighty thunderings, saying, "Alleluia: because 
the Lord our God the Almighty reigned. Let us be glad 
and rejoice, and give glory to him: because the mar- 
riage of the Lamb is come, and his wife made herself 
ready." Rev. 19:1-8. 

This is the song of the Bridegroom, the song 
of joy and gladness, the hallelujah chorus, the 
real "glory" song. It will be sung as it ought 
to be in the Hebrew tongue, four times repeated, 
because the Jews are there in their place. The 
only Hebrew word in the book of Revelation is 
found in this song — Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 
four times, because it is a compound word, made 
up of four Hebrew words. 

III. THE SEVEN OVERCOMETHS. 

[The third in this trinity, The Seven Overcomeths, 
will be dealt with later in the lectures on The Messages 
to the Churches.] 



42 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



IV. SONGS AND SORROWS. 

Revelation is not only a book of songs but of 
sorrows; the songs which we have just consid- 
ered are sung in heaven, the sorrows are on 
the earth. The heavenly parts of this prophetic 
history are all written in the major scale, and are 
all hallelujahs; the earthly parts are written 
chiefly in the minor scale, and are dirges. These 
often occur synchronously with the heavenly song, 
as for instance in Chapter 12: 12 where an aw- 
ful dirge on the earth is followed by the outbreak 
of the great song, the song of pow r er in heaven. 
This could not come with any other song. When 
the song of power and of regal dominion is ren- 
dered they say, "We are glad that Thou hast 
taken Thy power and are about to reign," but at 
that time we read : "Woe to the inhabited earth, 
for Satan is come down to you, he having his 
great power/' It is the time when all heavenly 
power is united, and also when all earthly power 
is united, the heavenly heading up in Christ, the 
earthly heading up in Antichrist. So these con- 
ditions go on in heaven and on earth at the same 
time: in heaven, praise and glory to God, on 
earth woe and dirge. This is well illustrated to- 
night, for while we sit here in the midst of adora- 
tion and praise, studying the Holy Word in the 
gladsomeness of this heavenly atmosphere, re- 
joicing and shouting hallelujahs to God, there are 
places near by in this city where there are sor- 
rows and dirges, where death and hell are let 



43 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



loose. These things occur synchronously on the 
earth and you need only go from one house to 
another to observe the change ; you don't have to 
go from this Christian continent to a heathen con- 
tinent. But there is a day coming, of which we 
are now speaking when the consummation of 
these things will come, and the whole earth shall 
be filled with the glory of God. 

Oh praise His Name! If you and I can only 
be wakened up to know what we are living in 
this world for, we will walk around like princes 
of the realm, "tread the young lion and the adder 
under our feet," and rise up to the dignity of our 
promised kingship and be "more than conquerors 
through Christ who loved us." Oh I wish you 
who have come here tonight troubled, discour- 
aged and defeated, would go out a victor through 
the blood of the Lamb and the power of the Holy 
Ghost! You may do it. 

V. ANTITHESES. 

It is a book of antitheses, of opposites ; not only 
is depicted the glory of the Bridegroom and the 
Bride, but also the horror of Antichrist and Anti- 
christians. These are the great themes of the 
book. I tell you the world is not always going 
on in this mixed condition wherein you can hard- 
ly turn around without elbowing something that 
is antichrist or anti-Holy Spirit, but everything 
shall return to its place ; that which is God's shall 
return to God, and be like Him, and see Him as 



44 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



He is. I had a blessed vision of my Lord last 
night to comfort my poor, tired, sick body, and 
my fainting spirit, for the devil just dogged me 
all the way home last night, and when I was 
asleep the Lord came and awoke me and stood 
by my bed. It was blessed to see His face and 
have Him encourage me to go on. I said, "Thank 
You, Lord, I will do my best/' Oh the soul that 
has had a vision of the Lord doesn't trouble about 
things of the earth; they look small after that. 

"Since mine eyes were fixed on Jesus, 

I've lost sight of all beside 
So enchained my spirit's vision, 
Looking at the crucified," 

VI. VICTORY. 

It is a book of victory full and final, not by 
spells, not to have the old enemy come along and 
upset things and make us fight it all over again. 
I would like to know how many of God's dear 
people have victory and do not have to fight it 
over and over again? We are never through 
with the battle, although we do sing once in 
awhile, "When the battle's over we shall wear a 
crown." That is only true when the last battle 
is fought and the final victory won, but do not 
ask for any furlough or leave of absence till the 
battle's over. He that is faithful to the end, 
and is mustered out when the war is over, he 
shall receive a crown, an unfading crown cf 
glory, Peter says. 



45 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



VII. RESTORATION. 

Seventh and last it is a book of restoration. 
Restoration of all things which the prophets have 
written, and nothing more. For instance, the 
book gives no promise of second probation, of 
annihilation, of conditional immortality, or hell- 
redemption. All of these things are favored more 
or less by various Christian teachers; but they 
are not in this book. They are swept clear out, 
if no other book swept them out, this one does. 
People are losing their place in the book because 
of these doctrines. We read : "Blessed is he that 
keeps the words of this book," and "Blessed are 
they that do these commandments/' Why? "That 
they may have right to the tree of life, and enter 
into the holy city." You must not miss those 
beatitudes, but it is a trick of the devil to get peo- 
ple to do a whole lot of other things and miss all 
at the last. 

Analysis of First Chapter 

A full analytic treatment would require many 
weeks, for this is the biggest book in the Bible, 
every verse being freighted with truth ; but now 
I want to take up a running comment of the first 
chapter which is divided into four sections em- 
bracing ten items. 

The first three verses are the superscription, 
the divine preface, in which are included four of 
these items. The first item is how the revelation 
came; it came from God, for we read in the first 

46 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



verse: "God gave." He is the author. "All se- 
cret things belong to the Almighty, but the things 
that are revealed belong to us and to our children 
forever." — Deut. 29 :29. Do you know there are 
things packed in that blessed, little, old Book, that 
have been revealed by God through His prophets 
and apostles of which the Christian world has 
not yet dreamed ? I read a little Psalm for my 
morning lesson, and had to stand up and shout, 
for I had never seen the glorious truth I saw 
this morning. That is why I go rooting into the 
Bible so much; I always find some blessed new 
truth. I get a daily paper from the skies that 
beats the Chicago Tribune or the London Times. 
It's new every morning. The Holy Spirit de- 
livers it new every day to those who receive and 
obey. I wonder how many read a chapter this 
morning. I'd take just a "bite" of it anyhow; 
you can't work on hay all the time, you need some 
grain, "finest of the wheat." 

By a careful comparison of the first few verses 
of the first chapter, you will find that "God gave, 
Christ showed" the angel signified, and John 
testified. God must give the revelation, and 
Jesus Christ must manifest it, for He was "God 
manifest in the flesh, ,, "full of grace and truth ;" 
just what you and I needed, and what we got. 
Grace to save us and truth to make us free; lots 
of saved people are not free. 

God gave, the Son shows, but you must have 
a servant to bring it. This time it was one of the 
angels; a man, if you please. God has always 

47 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



had two or three of them on hand. He had two 
of them standing on Mount Olivet when Jesus 
ascended, to cheer the discouraged disciples, per- 
haps the same two men who had stood on old Mt. 
Hermon in the transfiguration glory. 

He sent it by a messenger, and He still sends it 
that way, for it pleases God by the foolishness of 
preaching to save them that believe. God has no 
new method ; still it is the preaching of the Gospel 
that saves men. That is the only way I know. 
We have to go to work with the old Bible and lay 
it on men's hearts, preach it and live it, for it is 
the only medium the Spirit has to use. 

Then those who get it testify; they become 
witnesses of it, just as John did. There is your 
order just as definite as though it 'dropped from 
the skies. 

Now {item two) to whom does it come? To 
servants. The reason you do not get more of the 
living word of God, and know it, is because you 
do not become His servant. We are selfish about 
our salvation. Most people want to keep their 
toes out of hell fire and that is about all. It is 
not the wise, or rich, or learned who get the 
revelation, but His servants. The wise, the 
learned may become the servants of God, but they 
must be willing to become foolish for Christ's 
sake. So much the better if He can get a Paul, 
but that is the exception. However, do not go 
to the extreme of discounting scholarship, for 
sanctified education is a mighty force. God has 
a few educated, sanctified men in this Pentecostal 



48 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



Movement, but He has poured out the Spirit on 
the people to gather up those that were foolish 
and weak, and despised, to show what He could 
do and would do when the others would not yield 
Him. 

The nature of this prophetic revelation is an 
interesting item ( three ) for it tells us that we are 
to hear not only the declarations but even the 
words of the prophecy. The Bible differs from 
all other books in that it is pre-eminently a "word- 
book," for "no word of God is void of power." — 
Luke 1:37; it has ditnamis in it; it is full of 
power. It has power to impart life to the one 
who believes it. Take John 5 :24, "He that hear- 
eth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, 
hath everlasting life, and shall not come into con- 
demnation, because he has passed (right in that 
act), from death unto life." Do not think any 
more that your Bible is simply a revelation of 
ideas from God, for revelation is not only God's 
Word, but is God Himself. It does reveal 
God's thought to us, but much more it re- 
veals Himself. Greater than revealing God's 
thought, it puts within me God's life that was 
lost by the sin-fall. Isn't that marvelous? Doesn't 
that give a man courage to preach to sinners dead 
in trespasses? 

The fourth item which I have already enu- 
merated is the blessing upon eyes, ears and heart. 

The second section is contained in verses 4 to 
6, and is the ascription (fifth item), or doxology, 
where praise and honor are given to Jesus for 

49 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



salvation. It is freighted with greetings from 
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. 

^ John, to the seven churches which are in Asia : 
Grace unto you, and peace (salvation), from Him who 
is, and who was, and who is to come" (past, present 
and future) ; and from the seven spirits that are in 
the presence of His throne (called the presence- 
spirits) ; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, 
the first-born of the dead, and the Prince of the Kings 
of the earth. 

He will be the chief ruler of the kings of the 
earth. That is the ascription and doxology. 
Grace that brings salvation, and peace after you 
have it. If you have peace over the world, the 
flesh and the devil, and over yourself, you have a 
perfect salvation. You can not afford to let the 
raging of evil spirits and demons disturb your 
peace a moment. If the devil has robbed you of 
that he has you crippled, you can not work; the 
minister of God should be as calm as heaven in 
the presence of demons. You should let the 
peace of God which passeth all understanding 
keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. The 
greatest power in any Christian life apart from 
the operation of the Spirit Himself is an abiding 
peace. "In the world ye shall have tribulation, 
but in Me ye shall have peace." 

^ Unto Him that loveth us, and freed us from our 
sins by His own blood — and He made for us a King- 
dom — priests unto Him who is His God and Father; 
to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 
Rev. 1 :S, 6. 

Not washed us, as in the old version, but freed 
us ; many are washed but not freed, they go right 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 

back to the old life again. Jesus does more than 
that. He came not only to wash us, but to set us 
free from the thing that made us unclean. 

The third section (sixth item) is the description, 
verses 7 and 8, 

€J Behold He cometh with clouds ; and every eye 
shall see Him and those who pierced Him; and all the 
tribes of the land shall wail at Him. Even so, Amen. 

Then He responds: 

flf "I am the Alpha and the Omega/' saith the Lord 
God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the 
Almighty. 

That is a description of His coming, who He 
is and what He will do. 

We have had the superscription, the ascription, 
the description, and now we come to the fourth 
section of the chapter, transcription (seventh 
item). John proceeds to tell the story by writing 
it out in longhand, but I think he must have gotten 
it in shorthand. The more I preach and have 
stenographers report it, the more I see what a 
wonderful miracle was w T rought on that old Pat- 
mostic shore in the Mgean Sea on that Sabbath 
morning. I received a lot of things in shorthand 
last night in my prayer and in my vision that will 
require much time to work out in longhand. The 
longhand is where we work out our visions, hopes 
and dreams in an obedient life, and there are very 
few of us who don't fall down in the transcript. 
Oh if we could only live out our visions and our 
prayers what would we not accomplish! If 
I could just produce such a transcript in the at- 



51 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 

tempt to live it out in longhand as I get in my 
prayers and my visions how blessed it would be ! 
There is so much contradiction between prayer 
and practice that the enemy says: "If I were 
you I'd quit praying so there won't be this con- 
tradiction in your life." Well, I would keep 
praying anyhow until I could live the prayer. 
Prayer is the mother of faith ; faith is the mother 
of blessing, and His blessing is what enables us 
to live. 

"Keep on praying, the Lord is nigh, 
Keep on praying, He'll hear our cry, 
God has promised, and He is true — 
Keep on praying, He'll answer you." 

He will answer and give you enablings to live 
down in the office, and the store, the kitchen, and 
the hard places. Hallelujah, let us keep at it, 
and live it tomorrow a little better than today. 
We will keep on until we have a sort of decent 
transcript, and by and by when He puts on the 
final touches, He will "present us faultless in the 
presence of His glory with exceeding joy," in 
the presence of the glorified Christ that morning. 
We are headed for the throne and if faithful are 
sure to be brought through, Hallelujah forever! 

^ I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the 
tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was 
in the isle that is called Patmos because of the word of 
God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit 
on the Lord's day; and I heard behind me a great 
voice, as of a trumpet. Rev. 1 : 9, 10. 

John says : "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's 
Day." That is he was inspirited (eighth item), 



52 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



inspired. God can not do very much with a life 
until it has been inspired by the Holy Ghost. The 
reason we are so far behind in our worship, our 
praise, and our adoration, is because of a lack 
of this inspiration. Our ordinary assembly serv- 
ice lacks this ; indeed very little of it is really in- 
spired. The minister is expected to bring an in- 
spired message, but I tell you God wants every 
song, and every prayer; every testimony and 
every act of hearing also to be inspired by the 
Holy Spirit. You ought to pray to that end. 
The preacher may wait before the Lord for an 
hour or two in his room for the fires of the Holy 
Spirit to burn in his soul, but how about the 
people? Do you wait for the inspiration of the 
Spirit before coming to the meeting? If you 
did this we might see as Finney did so many 
times, scores of people stricken to the floor who 
now sit quietly and go home only to forget all 
that was said. In those days the people prayed 
at least one hour before they came to the service, 
and old "Brother Joseph" prayed at home all the 
three hours during the service, and could often 
tell Mr. Finney when he came home just what 
kind of a service they had had. 

Notice now that the place was Patmos, which 
means a sterile, barren, unfruitful place, geo- 
graphically and characteristically; but the word 
has an "uncertain meaning," and it is in the place 
of your uncertainties of life that God gets a 
chance at you. It is not where everything is clear 
and you understand all about it; you would run 

53 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



it yourself then; but it is when you are at the 
end of yourself that you are at the beginnings of 
God. The place of uncertainty, where you can 
not make ends meet ; this is your Patmos, sterile, 
barren, unfruitful, empty, forsaken, forgotten. 
There God gets the ear of the heart and there 
we can receive His word through the power of 
the Holy Ghost. There too He gives us the 
charge to unfold to others the Lord Jesus Christ 
to tell them what He is, what we have seen Him 
to be, what He has done, and to tell them He will 
do like things for them. John says: "I moved 
into the Lord's day, that is the day of the Lord. 
The Holy Spirit caught him away into the fu- 
ture and showed him things to come. 

I like to think of John there, without any paper, 
with no stylus, and the Lord saying to him, "J°lm, 
what thou seest write in a book." I think he felt 
like Job, that he would like to lead it in the 
rocks, but he could not. Although written after 
this, yet, fresh in his memory was John 16:13, 14, 
"When the Comforter is come He shall guide you 
into all truth; He shall bring all things to your 
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you." 
John says: "I do not know how much you are 
going to tell me Lord, I have no paper, I have 
no stylus, but I will depend on the Spirit that is 
in me to bring all things to my remembrance," 
and John simply could not forget. Oh what the 
Holy Ghost impresses on your soft, tender, 
trembling hearts cannot be obliterated. All the 
wear and tear, all the hardships, temptations and 



54 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



doubts never can efface them; they are the eter- 
nal, indelible lineaments in the soul that keep 
His image in our hearts. 

"What thou seest write in a book and send." 
There it is again — eyes of the heart and soul; 
"send," feet to carry it ; "send it to the churches." 
What for? "To get for Me a Bride out of them." 
God cannot get a Bride out of the world. Some 
people think He can. Consider for a moment an 
Old Testament type — Abraham a type of the 
Father, Isaac of the Son, and Eliezer a type of 
the Holy Spirit. "Thou shalt not take a wife 
unto my son of the daughters of the Canaan- 
ites, among whom I dwell : but thou shalt go unto 
my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife 
unto my son Isaac." 

God gets the church out of the world, but the 
Bride He gets out of the church. Let the world 
know that and they will see the purpose of divine 
processes, and will no longer call us poor, humble, 
spirit-enlightened, baptized preachers the fanatics 
of the last days. Thank God we know the hope 
of our calling. We are not fighting uncertainly 
like men that beat the air. Oh let me put into 
your souls the certitude of the hope of our calling 
so we shall be more than conquerors through 
Christ who loves us. 

Now we come to the ninth item, verses 12 to 17, 
which is the vision of the glorified Christ: 

^ And I turned to see the voice that was speaking 
with me. And having turned, I saw seven candlesticks 
of gold; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one 



55 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 

like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment 
reaching to the foot, and girt about at the breasts with 
a girdle of gold. His head and his hairs were white 
as white wool, as snow ; and his eyes as a flame of fire ; 
and his feet like unto fine brass, as in a furnace glow- 
ing with fire; and his voice as the voice of many wa- 
ters : — and having in his right hand seven stars : — and 
out of his mouth proceeding a sharp, two-edged sword: 
and his countenance as the sun shineth in his strength. 

Here John describes his vision of the glorified 
Christ. First he must be inspired, and through 
the strength thus imparted he is prepared for the 
vision. This was an actual fulfillment of the 
promise : The Holy Spirit when He is come "He 
shall glorify Me." — John 16:14. He showed John 
the glorified Lord fifty years after Jesus had 
gone to heaven ; and now, because we are hasten- 
ing to the Parousia of the Lord, the Holy Ghost 
is again inspiring baptized souls and giving them 
visions of the glorified Christ. You must not 
wait to see Him until you meet Him in the air; 
you must see Him here in vision, in order to be 
transfigured. Four years ago this very hour 
(November 3, 1906), my soul was transfigured, 
and now it is easy for me to think of the moment 
when my body shall be transfigured, "in a mo- 
ment, in the twinkling of an eye." The para- 
mount and essential significance of this Pene- 
costal movement, beyond all tongues and inter- 
pretation is the transfiguring power of the vision 
of the glorified Lord on the soul of man, prepara- 
tory to the transfiguration of the Bride. 

And I fell at His feet as one dead, but He laid His 
right hand upon me. 

56 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



Then he came up in a new way to see and 
know all the Lord had for him. 

At such times the Holy Spirit strengthens the 
"inner man" as promised in that great Pentecostal 
epistle to the Ephesians (3:16), but the outer 
man feels as though he is dying and falls at His 
feet as one dead. Let him die. Let him lie down 
a while and be quiet while the inner man gets the 
vision. Let him go where great men like Ezekiel 
and Daniel went, clear down on knees and face. 
I never would have gotten up any more but for 
the strengthening of the inner man. After such 
an experience the outer man obeys the inner man ; 
the inner man being no longer controlled by the 
outer. 

The tenth item, the last in this chapter is the 
purpose and plan of the book. 

1$ Write therefore the things which thou sawest, and 
the things which are, and the things which are about to 
come to pass hereafter. Rev. 1 : 19. 

The purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ to the 
churches in His fourfold aspect: 

First: In His new life, without which the 
church has no life. "I was dead, I am alive/' and 
since He brought a new kind of life out of that 
tomb, He has a new kind of life for us. The new 
life differs from the old both in aspect and in ap- 
plication. Now it is resurrected life, supernat- 
urally new, so changed that even His disciples 
could not believe it was He. 

Second: In His manifested life. "Behold I am 
alive/' "Behold." You can see this life; it is 



5 7 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



to appear to men. It is to be made visible and 
real through his followers as "living epistles, 
known and read of all men/' for "Ye are the 
light of the world." 

Third: In His perpetual life. "I am alive for- 
evermore, 3 ' This life is to be "everlasting" and 
"more abundant." We are to become immortal 
and be "swallowed up of life" — the life that 
"shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect 
day," and is eternally full of glory and full of 
God. 

Fourth: In His victorious life. "I have the 
keys of death and the grave." This is all-con- 
quering life, conquering the world, the flesh, Sa- 
tan, death and the grave. It leads captivity cap- 
tive and bestows gifts upon men. He holds the 
"keys" — He can liberate. He can unlock after 
death has locked. He can uncover after Hades 
has buried. If He can uncover His saints and 
give them their rewards in glory, and show them 
the good works that are to follow, He can also 
uncover the sinners "to everlasting shame and 
disgrace" (Daniel 12:2). This is the purpose 
of the book to reveal Him to the churches, as the 
four-fold Christ, new life, manifested life, per- 
petual life, victorious life, and thus to get a Bride 
for Him. Isn't that enough to engage all our zeal, 
all our energy, all our desire, all the compassion 
of our souls, and to "count that the sufferings of 
this present time are not worthy to be compared 
with the glory that shall be revealed in us?" 

Then He gave John the plan of the book, and 

58 



BEATITUDES AND SONGS 



it is this: Chapter one, first division, "things 
thou hast seen." Second division, chapters two 
and three, "things which are;" that are now oc- 
curring during the Gentile age, which is not more 
than twenty-five hundred years. Third division, 
chapters four to eighteen inclusive, "things after 
this/' or which shall be hereafter — times of tribu- 
lation, judgments upon the earth, and glories in 
heaven. Fourth division, nineteenth chapter, the 
return or epiphany of Christ with His Bride and 
the introduction of the millennium and its great 
work, the millennial reign being established on 
the earth. Fifth division, chapter twenty, the 
millennial kingdom — a thousand years of right- 
eousness and peace established and prevailing in 
the earth. Sixth division, chapter twenty-one: 
"The Restoration." God's kingdom established, 
earth renewed, renovated. Seventh division, 
chapter twenty-two, The Eternal State of Glory, 
perfect and complete. 

It is only by these seven divisions that the 
book can be clearly understood. All teachers and 
writers, so far as I know, have up to the present 
made three divisions in this book, and therein 
have failed to comprehend it in the fulness of its 
harmonic outline. We bring together therefore 
the three Schools of expositors — praeterist, pres- 
entist and futurist into one and thus have a har- 
monic exegesis of truth. 



R9 



Ill 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 

HE subject of this lecture is very 
important; it is seven-fold and re- 
quires perfect attention, perfect re- 
sponse and unquestioned obedi- 
ence. 

"He that hath an ear, let him 
hear what the Spirit saith unto 
the churches/' Rev. 2:7. 
I am praying that people may have an ear to 
hear. A few people are deprived of physical 
hearing, because that organ is defective, but 
there are vastly more who are deprived of the 
spiritual ear because it has become dead through 
trespasses and sin. I am speaking now as the 
Lord does concerning the ear of the soul. It has 
taken a goodly time of waiting in these past few 
years for people to have their spiritual ear 
opened. As Isaiah said, "He wakeneth me early, 
He openeth my ear to hear, He teacheth me," 
and the earlier you get this ear open, the sooner 
you get your soul open to spiritual things; the 
more of His teaching you get, the faster will be 
your progress. You can not put it off until old 
age and then acquire a great knowledge of God, 
for it requires a life-time of patient listening, 
and faithful obedience. You can not spend your 
life in the slums and gutters of sin and then 
bloom out into a great saint in a few months or 





60 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



years. The Bible doesn't teach that, and when 
men teach it they are putting a premium where 
God does not. God puts the premium, not only 
on a godly youth but upon a godly parentage. 
We are apt to put too much emphasis on post- 
mortem saintliness. God demands deep piety all 
through life, even in our ancestry, if we are to 
attain His highest and best. When the Bible 
wants to picture a great and good man it often 
goes back in the record until we find prenatal 
operations of grace ; but when you want to see a 
marvel of God's great mercy and loving kindness, 
and the power of the blood of the Lord Jesus 
Christ to save to the uttermost, then you are 
shown a great big sinner that has sinned away 
nearly all his life but whom God gathers up at 
the last and saves with abundant salvation. The 
kingdom of heaven does suffer (permit) violence 
and the violent do sometimes take it by force, 
but such is not the rule. Everybody wants to 
become violent in these Penecostal days, it seems, 
and take the kingdom by force. Well, I am glad 
that it is such a wonderfully constructed, broad- 
gage, merciful institution, so considerate and 
humanized, that the kingdom of heaven will suf- 
fer almost anything if people will only come 
into it. 

Oh brother, sister, if the world, the flesh and 
the devil have deadened your sensibilities ask 
God to uncover, to touch, to awaken and make 
sensible that soul of thine to the whispers of His 
love, the admonitions of His truth, and the tender 



61 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



entreaties of His saving grace, that you may 
hear what the Spirit is saying to you in these 
days. It is an awful thing to see men and women, 
called by the name of Christ, with their spiritual 
ear so deadened that when we talk much about 
God it sounds to them like an idle tale. That is 
a painful thing to the spirit-filled man or woman. 

The Seven Messages 

These seven messages to the seven churches 
occupy the second and third chapters of the book 
and comprise "the things that are" These are 
representative churches, and the purpose of these 
messages is to get a bride for Christ; while the 
result is to make "overcomers" throughout this 
dispensation. These churches were located in 
Asia Minor; the little Asia over which John, 
after Paul's departure, presided and over which 
he seems to have exercised a patriarchial guard- 
ianship. These are not all the churches that 
then existed, but are taken because of their typi- 
cal, representative character, and are intended to 
illustrate the seven-fold phases of church life all 
down through the Gentile period. They also rep- 
resent the seven-fold phases of any local assem- 
bly and in addition portray the seven phases that 
must obtain in the individual's life if he is to be 
an overcomer and belong to the advanced guard 
of the kingdom. 

If you have the eyes of the Spirit you don't 
have to be in an assembly long before you can 
select the people that represent the seven phases 

62 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



of these churches and hence of the overcoming 
life. You can grade every congregation by these 
seven decisive marks. In practically every con- 
gregation there is the Ephesian Christian, and the 
Smyrna Christian; the Pergamos Christian, and 
the Thyatira Christian. No doubt these are all 
here before me tonight, so I have a representative 
audience for a representative message by the one 
Spirit into whom we must all be baptized and 
made to drink, if we are ever to come where we 
shall stand before Him in glory. 

For some things I shall say in this lecture I 
am indebted to Dr. Seiss, who in his introduction 
to these chapters gives the best unfolding I have 
ever seen. These chapters are the starting point 
and contain the key to the true analysis of this 
book. Only those who get into the spiritual at- 
mosphere of chapters 2 and 3 are competent in 
any sense to teach the book of Revelation. There 
have been many attempted expositions of this 
book, but until one has experienced something of 
the power of the overcoming life, that is herein 
portrayed, he is an incompetent student, an un- 
graduated teacher. This is the book of all books 
that requires to be unfolded to us by the opera- 
tion in us of that same Spirit who on Patmos 
Isle gave it to John. 

There is a continuous vision dow r n to the end 
of the third chapter. There is no change here, 
all is given from the same standpoint and is com- 
plete in the outlying lines of the picture. In 
John's vision there is no return to this after it 

63 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



is once left. When we get through with these 
two chapters we shall not find the vision return- 
ing to these truths again. After these two chap- 
ters there is no more church, no more candle 
stick and no more Christ among the candle sticks. 
The only sight you have of Jesus, the Lamb, 
from the end of the third chapter is on the 
throne, until you get to the nineteenth chapter 
and then He comes forth to return again on the 
w r hite horse in the epiphany — "the appearing." 
The church's entire career is therefore com- 
pressed into these two chapters. Immediately 
after we finish these chapters there is something 
directly ahead that will startle this world, "things 
that are to come to pass speedily." 

There is much therefore coming after, but it 
is new and different, and cannot take place until 
the church period is accomplished. Some think 
that we are even now down to the eighteenth 
chapter of this book and tell us that the churches 
of Christendom constitute the Babylon there 
mentioned and preach "comeoutism," as the sure 
cure for this awful condition of things and insist 
that unless each is a law unto himself he cannot 
belong to the bride. That is one sure way to miss 
the Bridegroom, and is a sure way to become a 
sectarian of all the sectarians. The Bride will be 
called out; she is not to jump out, she's taken out. 
If the Holy Spirit leads you to the uttermost parts 
of the earth, very good; He will keep you; but 
don't try to make your leadings binding upon 
everybody else. He that hath a dream or a vision 



64 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



let him tell it; an experience or a testimony let 
him give it; but these are not things to teach, 
they are for our encouragement, comfort, ad- 
monition and spiritual exhilaration, but when we 
teach, it must be what God says. 

SEVEN ASPECTS OF THE SEVEN MESSAGES. 

Let us now consider the seven-fold aspect of 
these messages. We note, first, that each is con- 
structed on much the same model, after the same 
plan, and that they correspond directly, as most 
Bible students know, to the seven parables in 
Matthew 13 consecutively and respectively, be- 
cause Matthew 13 is a bird's eye view of the 
historic kingdom of God in mystery during the 
Gentile period and so are these messages to the 
churches. 

The second aspect is that each contains a com- 
mand to give the message publicity. He was to 
write the message and send it to the churches. 
No man has ever performed his full duty to any 
flock over which he is pastor until he has preached 
to them the truths of chapters 2 and 3 of the 
Book of Revelation. It is a special commission 
to these pastors; that is, to the stars of these 
churches. He is the sun, the church is the moon ; 
let us, as pastors to the churches, at least be their 
stars or they will go down in the night of dark- 
ness. Let us be stars ever shining with the light 
of the knowledge of the truth of God, and while 
we are in the night of this Gentile period, the 
night of this world's sin and rejection of the 



65 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



Lord, let us each as workers together with Christ 
be a real star, you shining in your little firma- 
ment and I in mine; some a little nearer, some 
more distant, but let us all shine. 

Third, each contains a different and glorious 
title of our Master. Just notice the seven names 
here in these seven messages to the churches. Let 
us run over them briefly: To the Church in 
Ephesus He is spoken of as "He that holdeth the 
seven stars;" that is the seven angels, messengers 
or seven pastors; and to Smyrna, He is called 
"the first and the last" ; to Pergamos as "He 
which hath the sharp two-edged sword" ; to Thy- 
atira as "the Son of God who hath eyes as a 
flame of fire," to Sardis as "He that hath the seven 
spirits of God," the seven-fold spirit, according 
to Isaiah 1 1 ; to the church in Philadelphia He 
is "the holy and true one, He that hath the key 
of David," that is the key of the kingdom, be- 
cause that is the kingdom church; and to Lao- 
dicea, the seventh, He is "the amen and the last" ; 
the summing up of all things, "the faithful and 
true witness." Thus in each message He has a 
new title, each one expressing some characteristic 
of our blessed Lord. 

Now another remarkable thing about these 
titles, or characteristics of the Lord, is that they 
are substantially what John saw as given in his 
vision of Him and recorded in Chapter 1. That 
is a marvelous point of accuracy in God's Word, 
one of thousands found in the Bible, but in no 

66 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



other book and it requires close study and com- 
parison to find all of them. 

Fourth, the message declares His absolute 
knowledge of their conduct. He encourages them 
to steadfastness in the good, but warns them of 
the judgment sure to come unless they repent. 

In the fifth place there is the promise, in the 
most attractive, encouraging form to those who 
prove faithful to the end. 

Sixth, Universality is another of these seven 
aspects. These warnings, commands, promises 
and encouragements are for the church in all 
places and for all time. 

In the seventh place the fact is emphasized 
that these are the Spirit's last messages to the 
church before Christ returns, given in order to 
make "overcomers," who are to compose and 
comprise His body, "the church of the first-born," 
and that even now He is at the door in judgment; 
at the door both of the church and of the indi- 
vidual heart; to judge the one, and to save the 
other. So He remembers the last individual 
while He is coming with the last message to the 
churches. He is standing at the door of the 
church and saying, "He thai hath an ear let him 
hear what the Spirit saith to the churches." "I 
am going to enter in; judgment must begin at the 
house of God and I am at the door of the Church 
and at the door of the individual's heart on My 
mission of salvation." Oh the mercy and the 
long suffering of God ! Oh the patience He has 



67 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



with the sinning soul ! Oh the out-stretched arm 
of His loving kindness ! 

To Ephesus. 

^ "And unto the angel (messenger) of the church who 
is in Ephesus write : These things saith He that holdeth 
the seven stars in His right hand, He that walketh in 
the midst of the seven candlesticks of gold: I know 
thy works, and labor, and thy endurance, and that thou 
canst not bear those who are evil, and thou triedst 
those who call themselves apostles, and are not, and 
f oundest them liars : and thou hast endurance, and 
bearest for my name's sake, and hast not been wearied." 
Rev. 2 : 1-3. 

He knows our endurance; they call it endur- 
ance, but really they do not endure. We often 
take names on our lips and never fulfil the char- 
acter of them in our lives. It all depends where 
your endurance is manifested and operates. Can 
you endure the atmosphere of evil continually 
around you? and are you clothed, like the diver, 
with your spiritual helmet, and have you a tube 
running to the upper world through which you 
breathe all the pure oxygen of heaven ? Can you 
say: "I will bless the Lord at all times; His 
praise shall continually be in my mouth ?" Can 
you bear those who are evil? 

<I "Nevertheless I have this against thee, that thou 
hast left thy first love. Remember, therefore, whence 
thou art fallen, and repent, and do thy first works: 
otherwise I am coming unto thee, and I will remove 
thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent. 
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the 
Nicolaitanes, which I also hate. He that hath an ear, 
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches/' 
Rev. 2:4-7. 

"Do thy first works ;" first works are more im- 



68 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 

portant than works ; get that thought, you Ephe- 
sian Christians, first works maintained is more 
important than "works." I know thy works, but 
you left your first work. Remember, and return ; 
repent and come back and do your first work, 
and then I will accept your other works, for listen 
to Paul, you may give your body to be burned; 
you may give your wealth to feed the poor, you 
may have faith to remove mountains, you may 
have the eloquence of an angel, yet it will profit 
you nothing except you have divine love, agape, 
liquid fire, white-heated love. "You have left 
your first love." That is the greatest work that 
was ever done in the human soul, the greatest 
work that God ever did for us in this world was, 
"He so loved the world." It is little to thee, it 
is little to me, that God first created the world. 
The world has gone wrong, and needs recreating, 
almost every atom of it. But God is redeeming 
it, and that is greater than creating it. God could 
go on creating worlds easily for that would not 
cost much. But oh, what it cost to redeem it, to 
love the world. Love costs, love requires sacrifice. 
Creation requires only ability, skill. People would 
rather exercise a pound of skill than an ounce of 
sacrifice. Brains are good in their place, but 
they count for nothing unless the heart is set on 
fire with the sacrificing love of God. "He so 
loved the world that He gave;" that is greater 
than making. Re-creation is a far more stupen- 
dous and amazing act of God than creating. He 
could have just gone on speaking, and worlds 

69 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



would have been making, for "He spake and it 
was done; He commanded and it stood fast." 
But when He wanted to redeem, He gave the 
best of all His creation. "He emptied Himself." 

"Thou hast left thy first love." Let me read to 
you dear old Dr. Weymouth's translation: "Yet 
I have this against you, that you no longer love 
me as you did at the first. Repent at once and 
do as you did at the first ; otherwise I am coming 
unto you and I will have to remove your candle- 
stick out of its place; because you have ceased 
to love me as you did at first." 

Isn't that awfully solemn. That is the story 
of thousands of hearts. How many hearts would 
tell that story tonight, do you suppose, if they 
told the truth? "I have this against you, that 
you no longer love me as you did at first." 

What is it holds our place in fellowship, in 
friendship, in communion? It is love. You may 
have everything else; you may have gifts and 
even graces, but "behold I show you a more ex- 
cellent way," Love isn't a grace. Love in its 
essence isn't even fruit. But you say "the fruit 
of the Spirit is love." Yes, that is its lateral rela- 
tion among men. That is not talking about its 
essence, its character. 

The Book speaks of "the more excellent way !" 
But the emphatic word is not excellent, but 
"way." Love is a way; the way you live, the 
way you give, the way you do things. It is the 
way you suffer long and are kind. When every- 
thing else failed "love found a way" God led 

70 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



this world out of its sin into His salvation through 
love. 

He says to the Ephesian Church, "You must 
come back now and love me just as you did at the 
first. Do thy first works/' Loss of the first 
love means a lack of patience, a lack of long suf- 
fering, for only love can produce these. See, 
brother, how many times you prayed for patience, 
and she soared away from you like an aeroplane. 
Patience won't abide without her mother. She be- 
longs to the family whose mother is Love, and 
when your love fails, then like the Ephesian 
Church, you will pray for patience, long-suffer- 
ing, and endurance in vain. Let us then get back 
to our first love such as we had when we were 
converted and then we can have patience with 
anything. The spirit of love will sweep away the 
cowardice from God's people. Take a mother 
whose child is lost in the night in a city, and, 
though frail and feeble, she yet has more courage 
than all the policemen and will take any risk to 
recover her child. It is a part of the life of her 
soul. Love finds a way, and love is courage on 
fire. Love kindles an enthusiasm worth talking 
about. 

I beseech you to read the last chapter of the 
prophecy of Hosea; it will be a cure for every 
backslider. Many have backslidden who do not 
know they have. They backslid the moment they 
began to lose their first love. Where does back- 
sliding begin? In the spirit. Backslidings in 
the spirit ought to be corrected instantly, other- 

71 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



wise it will produce backslidings in thought, pur- 
pose and act, and then it will require a great 
deal of ministry to recover such an one. You 
may know you are beginning to backslide in 
spirit when you begin to let up in prayer and 
in reading of the Word. If these are not at once 
corrected you will go on until you are back in 
sin again. The native breath of the Christian is 
prayer and Bible. If you have lost the desire for 
these, you are backslidden in spirit, no matter 
who you are; even if you are a preacher ten 
times over. The truth is the truth, whomever it 
hits. Then the spirit of cowardice will come 
over you, and you will not have the courage to 
move in the face of the enemy, and to take your 
place in helping others. 

Men fight like devils to maintain some doctrine 
who haven't enough love to warm one soul into 
the life of the kingdom. You cannot beget any- 
thing into life in this world without life. Like 
begets like, and kind produces kind everywhere, 
and if you haven't a great lot of love, even peo- 
ple you do bring into the kingdom will be un- 
lovely and sour Christians. 

Now let me define the character of the first 
love. The first sweet consciousness in the hu- 
man soul of God's love makes us feel that we 
could forgive everybody and everything in all 
this wide world, because love is always and ever- 
lastingly forgiving in its nature. Real love for- 
gives right on the spot. Is it not true today 
that even Pentecostal Christians are having the 

72 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



time of their lives really to forgive people ? There 
is where the Holy Spirit is judging. Have you 
found it difficult to overcome your enemies? The 
moment you find difficulty in overcoming them, 
you better make tracks back to your first love. 
Hear me ! You know I am saying the truth. I 
found out when the Lord baptized me what the 
real essence of the baptism is. God said, "If I 
am to transfigure your soul and get you ready 
so your body can be transfigured in a moment, 
in the twinkling of an eye, you have to live so 
you can love your enemies, and overcome every- 
body on the spot, and not go around carrying it 
in your pocket to bring it out and show it up 
some time." No sir! If God had treated you 
and me that way we would not be here tonight. 
Oh Church of the living God, get back to your 
first love. This is what is hindering the work of 
grace, and grieving the Holy Ghost, and stopping 
the latter rain from flooding the people with 
baptismal graces and gifts and power for serviee. 
This is what is breaking up waiting meetings so 
the whole atmosphere is charged with dearth, be- 
cause we will drag into them thoughts and mem- 
ories and opinions about people that ought to 
have been buried long ago and forgotten. 

Listen to me. I have sensed all these things 
in my soul; but the shorthand prayer and vision 
are difficult to work out into the longhand living, 
but I am busy at it. I am getting straight on that 
line, and every time I see a new enemy, I make 
for my first love; I take a new plunge into the 



73 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



fountain, and by and by I shall come out where 
nothing shall stick to my soul but the love of 
Christ. O beloVed, we shall have a great revival 
when they can say in truth, "How these people 
love one another." 

And so He says, while the church has many 
good things, it is yet lacking in that love to her 
Lord, for which nothing else can be a substitute. 
Gifts, graces, works, fruit, defense of the truth, 
exactness in doctrinal statement, perfect organic 
life — none of these can take the place of first 
love. 

"I wish you would come back," He says, "and, 
love Me as you did at first." Oh don't you hear 
the Spirit saying that tonight? Have you gotten 
your spritiual ear open to hear that? "Come 
back and love me as you did at first, otherwise 
I will have to remove your candlestick out of its 
place." You will lose your place, brother, sister, 
and by and by it will be said of you, that another 
has taken your crown. Obedience to the com- 
mand to return to our first love results, as in the 
case of the church in Ephesus, in our becoming 
privileged saints. "To him that overcometh I 
will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in 
the midst of the paradise of God." 

The promises to the overcomers begin away 
back at the beginning and follow logically all 
through, and the one made to this first church 
is that you will get back to the privilege of "the 
tree of life that was in the paradise of God." 
And so we characterize the first overcomers re- 



7 i 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



ward and victory with the word "privilege" 
You need a right to the tree of life every 
day. You need to be where you can drink in 
the life of God more abundantly. He says: "I 
am come that ye might have life." The Lord 
Jesus Christ is our Tree of Life. The Christian 
ought to be in such a place in the Lord that when 
he is exposed or overworked, or the power of the 
enemy comes upon him, he can drink in the 
life of God and be strengthened. Victorious ! I 
know we shall have trials and testings. The devil 
will see to that if nobody else does, but we ought 
to be where we can drink in Christ's resurrection 
life. This is the privilege of the Ephesian Chris- 
tian. If you retain your first love you will never 
get far from the realization of this blessing. You 
will be one of the overcomers and will have a 
"right to the tree of life and enter into the para- 
dise of God." 



75 



IV 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 
(Continued) 

UR general text for this lecture is 
the same that we had for the last ; 
a text so important that it is 
seven times repeated; once for 
each of the seven churches — ■ 
"He that hath an ear let him 
hear what the Spirit is saying 
to the churches." 
I have spoken at some length on the Ephesian 
church, and as the messages are largely of the 
same order I shall simply refer to the items in 
each church that differentiates it from the others. 
We now take up the message to the church in 
Smyrna. 

To Smyrna. 

4$ "These things saith the First and the Last, who be- 
came dead, and lived: I know thy tribulation, and 
poverty, (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy 
of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are 
the synagogue of Satan. Fear not the things which 
thou art about to suffer: behold, the devil is about to 
cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and 
ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful 
unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. He 
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto 
the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of 
the second death." Rev. 2:8-11. 

Smyrna means myrrh — bitterness, hence this 
is the church in which the self life predominates. 
Myrrh means human love, human sentiment 




76 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



human sweetness, the thing that makes you sick. 
Sentimentalism tends to sicken and becomes an 
emetic to any soul that needs help from God. 
Do not work on that; sweetness is good, but it 
must be a sweetness of the Spirit so that it will 
not ferment ; like the sacrifice of old, it must have 
no honey in it — "Ye shall burn no honey in any 
offering of the Lord/' saith the Book, for if you 
do the minute a little fire tests it, it sours, but 
"every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou 
season with salt." Have salt, (truth) in your 
service, for salt will save from corruption. Put 
the love of the Spirit into your service and you 
will have a sweetness and preservation that will 
last. The Spirit says that in her human sweetness 
and sentimentalism she was living face to face 
with death, falling into the hands of the enemy, 
about to suffer ten days' testing, and was shrink- 
ing back and fearing trial and persecution, and 
to her He says, "Be thou faithful even unto 
death ; I will give thee the crown of life. ,, Senti- 
mentalism won't be faithful to death. Frequently, 
in less than three months after it is poured out, 
it is all over; the gush of the summer courtship 
dies in the divorce court, asking for separation. 
God pity the church that has not had a better 
courtship with her Lord than that ! We must be 
married to our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ 
"till death do us to part." So it is trial to death. 
Oh Smyrna! overcome your human sweetness 
and culture, and sentimentalism, and love of nice 
things. Leave the honey and get into the Spirit 



77 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



of thy Lord, into the spirit of suffering and 
sacrifice ! He tells her that she is dwelling among 
those who are of the "synagogue of Satan." I 
want you to note this expression because I am 
going to lay stress on it presently. Smyrna 
stands for self -life, the flesh; Ephesus stands for 
God's truth defended so zealously that love was 
lost in zeal. 

True doctrine is most desirable, but the only 
successful way truth can be preached is in love, 
and if we lose the love element out of it we had 
better quit preaching and get back to practice, 
back to our first love. This church, Smyrna, 
stands for the "self-life" which the truth of 
God reveals; that self-life which is brought out 
so vividly in Romans 7:14-24, especially the 18th 
verse: "For I know that in me, that is in my 
flesh, dwelleth no good thing." "For to will is 
present with me — I belong to God, I have been 
born of the Spirit, I am a new creature — but 
how to perform that which I want to do I know 
not;" and he ends up that great catalogue of 
strivings and failures with, "O wretched man 
that I am, who shall deliver me, (the new man,) 
from the body of this death?" (this old flesh, 
this old self-life.) But the curtains part and he 
sees the star of promise shining out, and he hears 
a voice, and breaks out with the comforting 
assurance, saying, "I thank God through Jesus 

Christ my Lord for the law of the Spirit of 

life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the 
law of sin and death." Rom. 8:2. By and by 



78 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



these two contrary things will cease, if you keep 
up the fight, and the Spirit will have the dom- 
inancy, the flesh no longer doing the things it 
wants, and you enter the sanctified life, and begin 
to proclaim liberty through the Spirit. Gal. 
5:17. 

So the self-life is the synagogue of Satan; it 
is there he comes and worships. You may go to 
church three times on the Lord's Day and every 
night in the week, but if you are not dead to the 
self-life Satan has a little synagogue in you, a 
place where he has a right to come and set up 
his service and perform some of his works. 
What are we to be? Certainly not a synagogue 
for Satan; God has been challenging that right 
ever since Jesus Christ died and redeemed us, 
spirit, soul, and body, and purchased for us the 
right to have the Holy Spirit, for "greater is 
He that is in you than he that is in the world. 
Therefore sin shall not have dominion over you." 
We should now be temples of the Holy Ghost. 
There is a vast difference between the temple of 
God and the synagogue of Satan. There are 
hundreds of thousands of people in the world to- 
day who are synagogues of Satan; but only a 
few thousand who are temples of the Holy 
Ghost. I want to smash that synagogue of Satan 
by the hammer of truth, raze it to the ground and 
upon it erect a temple of the Holy Ghost within 
you, so that you will "glorify God in your body 
and spirit which are His." 

And you know the blasphemy of those who say 

79 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



they are Jews, that is, who say they are God's 
people and are not. They are of the synagogue 
of the self-life. The Lord Jesus Christ died for 
sin and hence sin is settled by His death, but if 
you w r ant the self-life settled, it must be by your 
death,— the death of "Self." Death for sin is 
substitution; death to self is identification and 
what the church of God needs is identification with 
Christ at Calvary. 

Now He says, if you will overcome this senti- 
mentalism of the self-life, self-saving, this 
shrinking from suffering — if you overcome this 
and die to that which does not like to suffer, 
and does not like hard duties and hard trials and 
persecutions, and will be faithful even unto death, 

I will give you protection — protection from the 
second death, and you shall have the crown of 
life as the reward of your endurance. 

To Pergamos. 

II And unto the angel of the church in Pergamos, write : 
"These things saith he who hath the sharp two edged 
sword : I know where thou dwellest, even where the 
throne of Satan is : and thou holdest fast my name, and 
deniedst not my faith, (and) in those days was Antipas 
my witness, (my) faithful one, who was killed among 
you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things 
against thee, that thou hast there those who hold the 
doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling- 
block before the children of Israel, to eat things 
sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication: so 
thou also hast those that hold the doctrine of the 
Nicolaitanes in like manner. Repent therefore; other- 
wise, I am coming unto thee quickly, and will fight with 
them by the sword of my mouth." Rev. 2:12-17. 

Pergamos means a tower ; one lifted up through 

indulgence, exalted in privilege. It stands for 



80 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



worldliness and the love of worldly things; the 
love of money, of fashion and of pride. Per- 
gamos, you are in sinful bondage to the world 
and to the flesh. "These things saith He who 
hath the two-edged sword, the sword of judg- 
ment, I know where thou dwellest." Yes, 
Christ knows, and knows correctly. The pastor 
can be fooled by the worldly Christian, for he 
can not see all, but you can not fool the Great 
Shepherd. You remember the word in John, how 
when the Lord saw many were believing on 
Him and it seemed His ministry was about to 
become popular, and they were about to make 
Him King it says He committed Himself to no 
one, "for He knew what was in man." Jno. 
2 :23-25. He knows ! He knows our tendencies, 
our wrong attitudes, our wrong relationships and 
unless we cease from them the sharp two-edged 
sword of judgment will overtake us. 

"I know where thou dwellest" — not in the 
synagogue now, the place where Jesus will come 
occasionally; but "thou dwellest even where the 
throne of Satan is, that is, this world, for he is 
the god of this world. He is the ruler now, not 
the Lord Jesus. "Pergamos, you are out in the 
world, a worldly people, a worldly church, you 
are dwelling where Satan's throne is. You will 
have to obey your king; you will have to pay 
your tithes and offerings to him, you will have to 
study the fashion plates instead of the psalter; you 
will have to study stocks and bonds instead of the 
Bible : you will have to watch how the things of 



81 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



the world are going, and not take much time for 
reading the Bible, because your throne is the 
world; the world is your master. I would not 
have this world to be my master if I owned all of 
it. "Love not the world, neither the things 
that are in the world. If any man love, (that is 
set his heart on,) the world, the love of the Father 
is not in him." I. John 2:15. 

"And thou holdest fast my name, and deniest 
not the faith." Oh yes, we believe the Bible, we 
believe the scripture, and there are some that will 
be such faithful witnesses that they will be 
killed. Where will they be killed ? Where Satan 
dwelleth, for he is king on the throne, and some 
will get so connected and so tied up with worldly 
systems that it will cost them their lives to be 
true to God. Be careful how you make unholy 
alliances, in business, in the domestic and in 
the social world. Here are three places God's 
children are making unscriptural, unholy and 
unwholesome alliances, and then some wonder 
how it is they are being put to death spiritually. 
Here is a man tied up with unbelievers in busi- 
ness ; here is a woman tied up with an unbelieving 
husband ; here are young people tied up in society 
that is rotten, and their conversation is unbecom- 
ing anybody that names the name of Christ. They 
sit and hear the slang and gossip and filthy 
conversation until by and by they are slain. May 
God yet save the people who are now sold out 
through the deceptions of the world. You say, 
"I married a young man to save him from a 



82 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



drunkard's grave." Yes, but history is not over- 
flowing with the records of this kind of reform. 
"I went into society to purify and reform it." 
Yes, and we lost a beautiful, pure character in 
the vortex of evil just as Lot came near being 
lost in Sodom, and he never would have gotten out 
but for the prayers of his sainted old uncle 
Abraham. Someone else will have to come to 
your rescue. 

€J "But I have a few things against thee, that thou hast 
there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught 
Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of 
Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit 
fornication. ,, 

"The doctrine of Balaam" is the love of money, 
you remember that Balaam for the bags of gold 
tried to pronounce curses on Israel, but he could 
not curse Israel. The Spirit of the Lord came 
upon him and he poured out such a prayer and 
confession of the great things regarding Israel 
that Balak got mad and told him to go back to his 
own country, that he had called him to curse that 
people and he had blessed them; Balaam said he 
could not help it, whom the Lord had blessed he 
could not curse. Do you sometimes get to lov- 
ing money when you are poor and in poverty? 
You don't know how to make ends meet, you see 
other people with more than heart could wish, 
their eyes standing out in fatness — well, don't 
adopt any of their methods ; don't let the love of 
money control you. Some people offer you a 
bag of gold. They offered me salary until I was 
ashamed and said I could not earn that salary. 



S3 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



They said, "We like your spirit, if you would 
just keep out some things. " I said, "Brethren, 
you could not stand me one month." The devil 
kept whispering to me $3,000. They said, "I 
suppose you could conform yourself a little to 
our ways; we like your preaching." I just 
cited them the passage that Spurgeon cabled 
when they asked him to give a lecture tour in 
America. "Thy money perish with thee, because 
thou hast thought that the gift of God may be 
purchased with money." 

I hope you have passed the Pergamos temp- 
tation. No use talking about the Pergamos of 
history ; that phase of church life is right here in 
the average church today, the temptation to 
worldliness, to money. The Apostle tells us that 
the friendship of the world is enmity with God. 
James 4:4. Now He says, if you will overcome 
this commercialism and the love of the world 
He will give you the hidden food, the hidden 
manna which you have a right to expect in the 
house of God, for the bread of God ought always 
to be there. To the patriarchs He promised there 
should be bread in His house, and He tells us to 
bring our tithes and offerings, that there may be 
meat in- His house ; there will be enough, both 
temporal and spiritual. 

He promises the precious white stone also. 
There is the double pledge, food for your soul — 
sustenance; the lustrous diamond, — beauty and 
riches ; can the world give anything equal to this ? 
Then the "new name that no man knows but he 



84 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



that receives it." It can not be taken from you 
because no one knows you have it. There is that 
secret place in the Lord, that secret sense and 
knowledge that I am His and He is mine, where 
even evil spirits and the demons can not come, 
for "only God knoweth the thoughts and intents 
of the heart." Oh blessed be God, I would rather 
have that secret of God hidden in my soul today 
than all else in the world. Are you sure if He 
were coming today you would be ready to meet 
Him? He says you must repent of these things 
or He will come quickly and fight by the sword of 
His mouth; and then He gives you the pledge, 
the hidden manna and the white stone. 

To Thyatira. 
Now we take up the fourth message, the central 
one, the one to Thyatira. 

1$ And unto the angel of the church which is in 
Thyatira write: "These things saith the Son of God, 
who hath His eyes as a flame of fire, and His feet are 
like unto fine brass : I know thy works, and faith, and 
love, and service, and thy endurance, and thy works, 
the last to be more in number than the first. Notwith- 
standing I have this against thee, that thou lettest alone 
the woman Jezebel; — who calleth herself a prophetess, 
and she teacheth and deceiveth my servants to commit 
fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And 
I gave her space to repent, and she willeth not to repent 
of her fornication. Behold, I cast her into a bed, and 
those who commit adultery with her into great tribula- 
tion, except they repent of her deeds. And I will kill 
her children with death; and all the churches shall 
know that I am he who searcheth the reins and hearts : 
and I will give unto every one of you according to 
your works. But unto you I say, the rest that are in 
Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, who knew 
not the depths of Satan, (how they speak,) I lay not 
upon you any other burden ; but that which ye have hold 

$5 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



fast till I come. And he that overcometh, and he that 
keepeth my works unto the end, — I will give to him 
authority over the nations : and he shall rule them with 
a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter are broken to 
shivers : and as I also have received of my Father. 
And I will give unto him the morning star. He that 
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
churches." Rev. 2:18-29. 

Thyatira is woman's church, and occupies the 
strategic place. This church was founded by 
Lydia, who came over to Philippi, heard the truth, 
was converted and went back and opened up her 
home for Gospel meetings, but the church at 
Thyatira was organized by Epaphras, (Col. 1:7), 
for the reason that the Book does not allow 
women to organize churches. The Word of God 
tells us how assemblies are to be formed, and 
who the officers shall be. Women may be 
deaconesses, but not elders; they may be 
evangelists; they may proclaim the Word; they 
may prophesy, but they can not be pastors and 
never should be. When they are, they go beyond 
the Word of God. The Kingdom of God suffers 
(allows) a good many things that are the excep- 
tion and not the rule. You can not get any 
vision or prophecy or utterance in tongues to 
tell me that a woman is to be an elder of the 
church, because I decline to receive it. I had 
a revelation superior to that long ago— the Word 
of God. 

This is woman's church, and out of it grew 
the error of spiritualism, worship of angels, 
theosophy, Christian Science, etc. You can find all 
of them described in the epistle to the Colossians. 

86 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



Paul sent that message to Thyatira, to Colosse 
and to Laodicea, churches that had not seen his 
face. Col. 2:1. These churches grew out of the 
conversion of Lydia. Let us see what corres- 
ponds to this woman's work in so-called church 
life, for they are all religious, but unfortunately 
they are pseudo-religious. Thyatira is the 
church of Satanic sacrifice, of voluptuous service, 
of profuse offerings and great gifts. Just look 
for a moment at a few striking facts; she has a 
great zeal, but not according to knowledge. They 
don't know God's will; it is fleshly energy and 
creaturely activity, as George Fox used to say, 
but not of the Spirit. They are not careful at 
all about doctrinal purity: hence just the opposite 
of Ephesus; they have a love, a sentimental, 
fleshly love, a love of culture which finally ex- 
presses itself in the most diabolical sensuality, 
and goes into Baal worship at the end, the worst 
form of idolatry in the world. 

She is diligent in her works and ministries of 
her so-called love, but she fails utterly in the great 
marks that God wants in the church. This is 
the church which has know T n the "depths of 
Satan." We have had his synagogue in the self- 
life, in the Smyrna church; we have had his 
throne in the world, in the Pergamos church, but 
now we have found a church that not only has 
been a synagogue for Satan and where his 
throne is, but which has gone experimentally 
both in her worship and in her teaching into the 
depths of Satan, and this church is getting more 

S7 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



women today than any other church. This is 
Thyatira. And who comes to her? He "who 
hath His eyes as a flame of fire, and whose feet 
are like fine brass." You know, according to 
the vision of the first chapter, they have just come 
out of the fire and were like unto fine brass. 
That means He comes who discerns, refines and 
purifies; the purifier of silver. He is doing this 
now, for even in Thyatira a few are being- 
purified; blessed be His name! He is saving a 
few of them out of this phase of religious life 
and of church history. This is the church that 
teaches demon worship ; worship at the shrine of 
the devil. 

"I know thy works, and the last to be more 
in number than the first." "Notwithstanding, I 
have this against thee, that thou lettest alone the 
woman Jezebel. " Just what the first Jezebel 
was to God's ancient people this one is to His 
Church today. She was ruler in Israel, and after 
dear old Elijah had settled with Ahab, and Ahab 
was bowed down in contrition, he found in 
Jezebel a worse enemy of Jehovah for she sent 
Elijah word that she would make his life like 
that of the prophets which he had slain. No 
wonder Elijah was discouraged especially when 
he had gotten out of God's order, for he ran not 
only ahead of the chariot but also ahead of the 
Spirit. It was not his mission to run ahead of 
the chariot. Don't carry even a good thing be- 
yond the bounds of its mission. Elijah crawled 
under a juniper, under its low, spreading 



88 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



branches, with just room enough to crawl under, 
and said, "Let me die, don't let me be killed by 
the will of a woman." But instead the Lord 
opened up a restaurant and prepared for him 
several good meals. 

But oh Thyatira, will you come back from this 
awful condition? He says, "I have given you 
space to repent," but you have not done it. "You 
seduced my servants to commit fornication, and 
to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and will not 
repent." There is no hope but to save a few out 
of her. "But unto you I say, the rest that are in 
Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine," — 
that have not been deceived and captured by these 
parlor meetings, these afternoon tea parties, that 
are as subtle as the devil, — I lay not upon you any 
other burden." How this Thyatira church does 
work; it gives you literature that is as subtle as 
hell; they say, "Your church doesn't afford you 
any social culture, come with us." This church 
is worse than the theatre, for that, bad as it is, 
does sometimes make human passion ashamed of 
itself, but there is nothing good in this. It is 
the depths of Satan. But even in this Thyatira 
condition there are some who will hold fast until 
He comes. "And he that overcometh, and he that 
keepeth My works unto the end, I will give to 
him authority over the nations :" In other words, 
"He that will hear My exhortation and will over- 
come and be separate and get clear of these 
things, I will promise to him power, authority 
and light; rulership and revelation." 



so 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



The husband is the head of the woman just 
as Christ is the Head of the church, and yet the 
wife hath power over her husband, therefore, 
the church has power over Christ to determine 
what He shall do and when He shall come back 
to this world. Don't forget that in this figure 
the church is the woman and since the woman 
has power over the head she determines what 
work Christ shall do. "Whatsoever ye shall ask 
in My name I will do." She determines when 
He will come, not as to the clock, but as to the 
condition. When she is ready, He will come. That 
is where He exhorts her — "Be ye ready, finish the 
work I have given you to do. When you have 
witnessed this Gospel to all the nations, then 
shall the end come." So it is left with her ; there 
is the power and there is the revelation; the 
woman, (the church) is the means of revelation 
after all. "I give her the morning star," those 
that escape out of this system. Now notice that 
she is to overcome demon worship, false doctrine 
and sensuality. 

Demon worship is carried on today by three 
systems, everyone of which is headed and or- 
ganized by a woman: spiritualism, theosophy, 
and Christian Science. These are the women 
churches and the church of Thyatira contains the 
essential features of all their characteristics and 
history. They build shrines for demon worship ; 
they worship in the psychical realm, not in the 
spirit where God must be worshipped. Jno. 
4 :22-24. They are educating a line of demonized 



90 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



people these days, and if it were proper I could 
tell you things about these cults that would make 
your hair stand on end. They are developing now 
the same kind of race that cursed the earth in the 
days of Noah. That is why Jesus said, "As it was 
in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the parousia 
of the Son of Man." Praeterhaman people that 
have already gone into judgment; there is no 
deliverance for them in this world, for some 
people's sins go before them to judgment. Such 
can only "be delivered to Satan for the destruc- 
tion of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in 
the day of the Lord Jesus. " You may not believe 
this but it is true. Many who are in our asylums 
today are of this class of people. Some how- 
ever, are in high position in state and nation; 
men and women who in the psychical realm are 
giants. We call them superhuman, but they are 
not; jw/>miatural we call them but they are not. 
These are not the terms to use ; they are praeter- 
natural, praeterhuman, lower than the human, 
below the natural. Paul talks about them in the 
first chapter of Romans ; they do things contrary 
to nature and are even rebuked by the animal 
kingdom. Many of these are in the agnostic and 
free thought schools as well as in the woman's 
church. This three-fold, pseudo-religious system 
of Spiritism, (Anti) Christian Science and 
Theosophy, is cursing people today and is bring- 
ing about an awful condition of immorality on 
this earth. Christian Scientists, Theosophists and 
Spiritists do not like to hear these things. Some 



91 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



haven't known the depths of Satan, and to such I 
say, get out before you do know it. These are 
the three frogs that in the days of tribulation 
leap out all over the earth and which nobody can 
catch. Oh how you and I ought to thank God 
that in place of spiritism we have the Holy Spirit ; 
in place of theosophy we have the one God and 
Father of us all; in the place of (Anti) Christian 
Science we have the Christ who shed His blood 
and died and rose again for our redemption. 

Jesus, I'll trust Thee! 
Thou hast redeemed me; 
My heart I give to Thee 
Thou Savior of my soul. 



92 



V 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 
(Concluded) 

To Sardis 

E pass now to the church in Sardis. 
This is the church of deadness 
and defilement, hence it needs 
revelation and revival; the church 
that is at ease in Zion ; the church 
of formalism. I do not like to 
classify among the churches now 
existing, but there is a church in 
all our minds that is a church of formalism and 
ceremony without much of the Spirit, and that 
is the Sardis church. I will read from the third 
chapter : 

IJ And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write: 
"These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of 
God, and the seven stars : I know thy works, that thou 
hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Rev. 3: 1. 

That is a contradiction, a paradox. True it 
moves around physically, but, spiritually it is 
dead. 

*J "Be watchful and strengthen the things that remain, 
that are about to die; for I have not found thy works 
complete before my God." Rev. 3:2. 

No religious life can be complete without the 
Spirit, for none can worship God without the 

93 




THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



Spirit. I do not care how beautiful a ceremony 
you have, how fine your form of service is, how 
you phrase your prayers and intone your songs, 
unless the Spirit is there to inspire, 

"Hosannas languish on our lips, 
And our devotion dies." 

God is seeking those who will worship Him 
"in Spirit and in truth" (John 4:23, 24,) for He 
can honor only that worship which is in the 
Spirit and according to truth. These seven 
churches are representative; there was a time in 
which this phase of worship was dominant in 
history, but you can also find all these conditions 
operating today in any assembly, and also in 
individuals ; but all must stand the test and come 
out of it if they are to be overcomers. When we 
trace these characteristics in their three-fold 
aspect in history, in church and in individual life 
we get the whole truth and it becomes harmonic. 

^ "Remember therefore how thou hast received and 
heardest ; and observe and repent." Rev. 3 :3. 

You can receive and hear in this kind of 
worship, but the next question is how will you 
observe? You cannot do that without the Spirit. 
Even then it is difficult enough to observe (to 
put into practice) all the things we see and hear 
these days. Our prayers and vision are far ahead 
of our works and lives. The shorthand message 
has yet to be reproduced in longhand. The tran- 
script falls, thus far, very short as we saw in the 
first chapter. 



94 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



1$ "If therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come as 
a thief, and thou shalt not know at what hour I will 
come upon thee." Rev. 3 :3. 

You may know the Word of God from Genesis 
to Revelation, and be able to repeat it, but you will 
not know when the Lord is coming only by the 
Spirit. You may have your ceremony, your form 
and your worship ; you may go over your prayers 
and recite your Psalms and other scripture, but 
with all of these you will not know when the 
Lord is coming. You may even know the times 
and seasons, but you will not know for yourself 
and be ready, only by the Spirit who is to catch 
you away. John had not only to be inspirited to 
receive the vision but in the next chapter he is 
enraptured by the Spirit of God, caught up 
through the door to see the things in heaven, and 
so must we. The same Spirit that will by and by 
enrapture us and take us up, must now inspire 
us to live ready for that event. So it is "not by 
might nor by power but by My Spirit, saith the 
Lord of hosts." 

^ "I will come as a thief, and thou shalt not know 
at what hour I will come upon thee. But thou hast 
a few names even in Sardis, which defiled not their 
garments ; and they shall walk with me in white : 
because they are worthy." Rev. 3:3, 4. 

What makes worth ? Whiteness always. These 
garments speak of the priesthood coming out of 
that formal, ceremonial order of things, where 
you would expect, of course, priests ministering 
in ceremony. Do you see the fitness? Yet, He 
says, out of those will come some real spiritual 



95 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



priests, their garments will be kept unspotted. 
That whiteness makes worthiness, is shown 
by Chapter 19:8; "And it was given to her 
(the bride) that she would be arrayed in fine 
linen bright and pure: for the fine linen is the 
righteousness of the saints." Whiteness makes 
worth; whiteness through the blood of Jesus; 
whiteness through the righteousness given to us, 
first through substitution, and then the righteous- 
ness wrought in us by impartation. There is a 
two-fold righteousness taught in the New Testa- 
ment; first that which Jesus does for me and, 
second, that which He by the Spirit accomplishes 
in me. It is the imparted righteousness He is 
talking about here and only that will stand in the 
other world. They shall walk with Him because 
they are worthy. So this church so at ease in 
Zion will need to wake up and have the Spirit 
burn the love of Jesus into her soul and get out 
and win souls for Him. "Woe unto those that 
are at ease in Zion." That is an awful woe. Is 
there anybody here that is at ease in Zion? Any 
child of God that is not burning with a passion 
to do good and win souls for God? Oh brother, 
sister, I beseech you to go into your closet and 
fall down before God and say, 

"Oh living flame of love divine, 

Light up this sluggish soul of mine." 

The overcomer is promised to be clothed upon 
and confessed in the Father's presence. 

^ "The}' shall walk with me in white: because they 
are worthy. He that overcometh shall thus be clothed 

96 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



in white garments; and I will not blot out his name, 
out of the book of life, and I will confess his name in 
the presence of my Father, and in the presence of his 
angels. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the 
Spirit saith unto the churches." Rev. 3:4-6. 

So even in this church, which is the church of 
death, to some is promised holy priesthood ; they 
are to stand in the presence of the Lord as priests. 

To Philadelphia 

Passing from this church of death, what should 
you expect to get then, but the church of perfect 
love, the church of Philadelphia; where brother 
loves brother, and sister loves sister ; the type of 
the perfect church. After you have gotten 
through this awful list of five, you come to this 
church. I call attention to the important points 
which make this a church of perfect love, for 
as you know the word Philadelphia means 
"brotherly love." Of course this "philo" love 
which means philosophical loye, is not divine love, 
but it is because they have divine love that they 
can have brotherly love. 

Turn to II Peter 1 :5-7. "Add to your faith 
virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to know- 
ledge temperance; and to temperance patience; 
and to patience godliness ; and to godliness 
brotherly love, (philadelphus,) and to brotherly 
love, divine love (agape)." 

Now you see you cannot love the brethren 
right until you get divine love in your soul. It 
is this that many of the holiness people lack; I 
served and labored with them a good many years, 

97 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



and had and lost my blessing with the rest of 
them in regulation order — I wish they would see 
something more than sanctified love, because that 
is only "philo" love, human love, but human love 
brought up to the highest place and sanctified 
won't stand the wear and tear. Sanctified human 
love is only the pure chalice for divine love. 
Divine love is held in the cup of sanctified human 
love just as our spirit wherewith we worship God 
is contained in our soul, the place of human love. 
Our highest praise and worship is just a vessel in 
which the Holy Spirit comes and manifests Him- 
self while our poor minds and intellects are 
allowed to be at rest, as we see in the exercise 
of tongues and discernings of spirits, and also 
to some extent in prophecy. So God can thus 
get worship out of the weakest kind of creatures 
if their spiritual natures are developed, but He 
could make a world easier than He could make 
teachers out of such persons. So do not think 
when you get your love purified and sanctified 
you have God's best. There is something more 
than that for that won't stand the test; divine love 
is needed ; the fervent love that Peter talks about. 
It is liquid fire, love just running and burning 
as it goes, white heated love, fiery lava. 

This is also the church of the open door; a. 
good many churches are so named, but all the 
signs and names you can put on won't make you 
Philadelphia, but if it is in you the open door 
will be there without your saying much about it, 

98 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



for the church of the open door and the church 
of divine love go together. 

It is a church with little strength of its own, 
the weakest kind of thing. It cannot make much 
show, it hasn't many members, it hasn't much 
money, it hasn't much of a name, it hasn't much 
standing in the community; it didn't come from 
anywhere, cannot look back to any kind of an 
ancestry or "Apostolic Succession," only sin and 
folly from which they have been redeemed — if 
they look back it is only to see Mesopotamia or 
Egypt, or something like that. The church of 
little strength and very limited opportunities, all 
shut in, circumscribed, but oh what a great work 
for God. So don't go around looking for a great 
start, and for great numbers, and say, I wish I 
had a chance. Just get God and start, that is all 
the chance that is needed. 

God makes His own opportunities. "I will 
do a new thing," He says, "and make the ears 
of them that hear to tingle," and before you know 
it, it will spring forth and people needing help 
will seek you out. Church of the open door! 
When God makes an opportunity it is an oppor- 
tunity, and when He shuts a thing up no man can 
open it, but this shutting I think is after we get 
in; then God shuts the door. 

^ "Behold, I have set before thee an open door, which 
no one can shut." Rev. 3:8. 

He doesn't find a bit of fault with her, but He 
commends her and says, 

99 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



^ "Because thou didst keep the word of my endurance, 
I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, 
which is about to come upon the whole world, to try 
those who dwell upon the earth." Rev. 3:10. 

God is going to keep the Philadelphia!! church 
from that. If you want proof of that read Luke 
22:36. "Watch and pray always, that you 
(Philadelphian church) may be counted worthy 
to escape all these things/' 

Don't think you have to go through the first 
half of the week. You are to "stand before the 
Son of Man;" you are going to be caught up, 
church of the open door. "I have opened doors 
for you on earth, and you have done work for Me 
where nobody thought it could be done, and now 
I will open another door that no man can shut, 
nor the devil either." Don't you want to make 
application to join the Philadelphian church of 
perfect love, finished work for God? Well, He 
says, if you will do that He will keep you, for, 

<I "I am coming quickly: hold fast that which thou 
hast, that none take thy crown." Rev. 3:11. 

Can anyone take her crown? Someone might 
say, "I did not suppose her crown was in danger." 
Oh yes, your crown is always in danger. Who 
is against it? Listen! 

"Because thou hast a little strength, and didst keep 
my word, and didst not deny my name; behold I make 
those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they 
are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make 
them to come and worship before thy feet, and know 
that I loved thee." Rev. 3:8, 9. 

And then there is the temptation. He says they 
are in danger of being deceived. They are all 



100 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



right, but look out for deception ; there is danger 
of being lifted up by a little spiritual pride; if 
you turn back to that passage of the Lord Jesus 
Christ concerning this Philadelphian church in 
Matt. 24:24, you will read: 'Tor there shall 
arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall 
show great signs and wonders; insomuch that 
if it were possible, they shall deceive the very 
elect/' I am so glad for that "if 3 — if it were 
possible they would deceive the very elect, the 
eclectoi, the ones called out from the called-out 
body, those called the second time. They would 
deceive them if it were possible, but He says, 
"Philadelphia, I will keep you. I will make the 
hypocrites and liars bow down and know I have 
loved you." How is it He keeps them from being 
deceived? By His love, for love knows even 
when the head would fail. The thing that inter- 
feres with this burning, fiery all-consuming love 
of God, anything that militates against that, 
nail it to the cross. 

Perfect love not only casts out all fear but 
everything else. It detects the deceiver. It is 
love that proves the mother-heart ; it is love that 
proves the child ; it is love that proves the fellow- 
ship; it is love that answers heart to heart, and 
face to face and makes us one. So that is the 
Philadelphian church, and if she overcomes this 
religious deceit, she is promised the seven-fold, 
perfect reward, the only church that gets it. 

Phrase it here now, if you please: first, the 
door of entrance into the parousia; "Behold 

101 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



I set before you an open door second, His love, 
His unchanging love. "I will cause them to know 
I have loved you," and third, His preservation, 
"I will keep thee from the tribulation," and make 
a way of escape; fourth, "I will give you per- 
manence; I will make you a pillar in the temple 
of My God and ye shall go no more out forever ;" 
permanence and preeminence in His house; 
fifth, He gives us the birth-right, the lineage; 
nobody else can have the Name of "My God." 
I have the name of Myland, the Myland heritage, 
all it means, but all the Philadelphia brothers and 
sisters will have the "Name of my God," the 
birth-right, the lineage; sixth, having the birth- 
right and the lineage I will have "the name of 
the city of my God," which means citizenship. 
We will be spiritual aldermen then ; we are elected 
now. Peter says, Beloved, if you keep doing 
these things you will never fall, and so doing, 
you will "make your calling and election sure" 
Politics are in pandemonium now, but we are 
going out of pandemonium into the promised 
inheritance by and by. Our calling and election 
were never so sure and never so near at hand 
as now. Oh, there is a lot of splendid politics 
in the book of Revelation, but it is all on our 
side. No electioneering required, just fit your- 
self in the perfect love-life of the Lord ; be sure 
to vote the ticket that is stained with blood, and 
you will see your name written in gold letters. 
Seventh, authority and partnership: "And I will 
write upon him my new name." 



102 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



There you are, a partner in the business ; here 
you are a junior partner. "I will write upon him 
My name/' New ! We have a new name and a 
great new order; the great incorporation of 
worlds and systems and ages, forevermore, and 
we are in it. The great Secretary of State writes 
it out. "I will write on him My new name; put 
the seal of the Lord our God upon him." Oh, 
I have taken stock in the concern now, because 
I know I am going to be a partner, for "if we 
suffer with Him we shall reign with Him." 
While some don't seem to get many dividends, 
I am getting good ones. I just clipped off a 
coupon this afternoon from my preferred stock 
when I wrote off four verses of a song entitled, 
"Jesus is my victory." Much more could be 
said about this Philadelphia church, but this is 
enough to burn holy desires in us for God. 

When I was in the Methodist church, we 
preachers used to go up to conference, and sit 
in the anxious seat while the bishop would call 
the roll. As a man's name was called he was 
expected to stand and if his presiding elder 
didn't rise, it was all up with him, but when he 
would rise up saying, "Nothing against him," 
then he was free. This Philadelphia assembly 
comes up to the conference of the ages, and our 
great Presiding Elder stands up before us and 
says, "Nothing against them." O, what a day 
that will be! He says, "I will even protect you 
from those who tried to deceive you." Won't you 
join the Philadelphia church? If you are not 



103 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



sure about it, say, "Lord, go from head to foot, 
and from side to side; pour your love through 
my heart until it burns out everything else." 

To Laodicea 

The Laodicean church is the church of judg- 
ment—God's judgment of the people, "judgment 
in the house of God." This is the self-deceived 
church, just the opposite of the Philadelphian 
church. The other could not be deceived. This 
is the self-deceived church, "willingly ignorant," 
is the word that describes this church, according 
to II. Peter 3 :5. They don't care about the 
Lord's parousia, don't want Him to come. Only 
the other day some "pooh-poohed," because I was 
here lecturing on this wonderful book. "They are 
hearers and not doers of the Word, and therefore 
they deceive themselves." You need do nothing 
else to be lost than go to a meeting and hear the 
Word but never do it. You will soon be self- 
deceived, and that is fulfilled in this church. 
The Philadelphia church was the church of pov- 
erty and yet had done great things for God. 
The Laodicean church is the church of wealth 
and yet of poverty because of carelessness and 
ignorance in spiritual matters. 

^ "And knowest not that thou art the wretched one, 
and the miserable, (no spiritual life,) and poor and blind, 
(no spiritual light,) and naked." Rev. 3:17. 

Perfectly exposed, no robes of white. Don't 
know it. It is the ostrich church with her great 
rich plumes and adornments, big body, swelled 

104 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



membership, which sticks her poor head in the 
sand and thinks she is covered all over and per- 
fectly hidden. 

It has abundance of means and a loud pro- 
fession. She is described in II. Tim. 3:5, as 
"having a form of godliness, but denying the 
power thereof: from such turn away." Get out 
of the Laodicean church as quickly as you can, 
and join the Philadelphian church. These both 
live along together. Though we can find these 
two churches in history yet the marks were never 
before so clear as now. We are getting to the 
culminating point, hence the greatest differentia- 
tion and extremes are becoming manifest; the 
extremely worldly, self-centered, self-sufficient 
church, and the self-denying, spirit-anointed, 
divinely filled one, paralleling it. The line of 
demarkation is very clear cut to-day, and I am 
glad it is. We are getting away from the mixture 
for we are getting to the end of the world's 
mystery now, when you see on the one hand the 
greatest depths of Satan, the mystery of iniquity 
boiling over, and on the other you see the most 
beautiful godliness; the most consecrated spirit- 
filled people the world has ever known. We have 
the extremes. The Lord in Matt. 24:12 said, 
"Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many 
shall wax cold," and the Ephesian Christian 
takes that as his excuse for his lack of power, 
but not so with the Philadelphian for the latter 
is the Father's answer to the prayer of Jesus 
when He prayed, "Do not, I pray thee, Holy 



105 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



Father, take them out of the world, but keep 
them from the evil that is in the world." 

J have seen the purest, sweetest lily grow out of 
a dung-hill, and some of the greatest saints of 
God have to live in the midst of cess-pools of 
sin. You can transform your environment. That 
is where God wants a saint to shine. We 
preachers haven't half the chance you have ; you 
can shine in factory and shop where if we went 
they would all run, but you work there and you 
can shine there. You can put in a word, a smile 
and a hand-shake where they wouldn't let a 
preacher within a mile of them. So you have 
your mission, brother, sister, and it is to apply 
the Gospel you hear us preach and teach. You 
are to be the fingers and feet, and eyes for us, 
and can go and teach where we cannot, for as 
Jesus said, "As the Father sent Me, so send I 
you." 

This church of Laodicea, more rich than 
righteous, He counsels to buy gold that is refined, 
that she may be rich, truly rich; white garments 
that she may be clothed, and the shame of her 
nakedness may not be manifested, and eye salve 
to anoint her eyes that she may see. This gold 
is a symbol of character, true, pure character, 
with the divine touch on it, a holy personality; 
this white raiment is the conduct, the life, the 
righteous works of the saints. The eye salve is 
faith to get the right vision of God, and see 
Him and believe Him, and trust Him. So she 
will have character, she will have conduct, and 



106 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



she will have a right vision if she gets to God; 
but she will not be an overcome!*, as a church, 
without power. To the overcomer is promised 
the position of a seat with Him on the throne. 
There are some that will come out, but like the 
Thyatira church the bulk of them will never 
be cured; but God will get a few out of it, for 
He says in connection with this church, 

^ "Behold I stand at the door and knock; if any one 
(single one) will hear my voice and open the door, I 
will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he 
with me." Rev. 3 :20. 

Just think of that! He says to the poor, old, 
dried-up carcass of a wasted life, that He will 
come in to him and sup with him, and then after 
He has shown us His humility and beneficent 
Spirit, and taken what we have of a wasted 
life — sup with us and we with Him — He will 
just take us in where there is a real feast, "into 
His banqueting hall, and His banner over us will 
be love." 

If there is anybody here who has not opened 
the door, open it now. He will come in; He 
will take the old carcass of sin, the shriveled up 
remains of your life, even though it has gone 
on for half a century, and He will so pull you 
together and re-fashion you and reconstruct you 
that you will be a new creature; then He will 
take you by the arm and lead you in where there 
is something good, saying, "I have taken what 
you have, now I am going to give you what I 
have." This is the last call in the Laodicean 



107 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



condition to the single soul, — for the last in- 
dividual. 

SYNOPSIS 

Now let us recapitulate: These messages to 
the churches are for the express purpose of mak- 
ing "Overcomers," and the chief characteristics 
of the overcomers in these seven churches seem 
to us to be about as follows: 

The Ephesian church is the church of the 
Word — pure, sound doctrine; she lost her first 
love in contending for the truth, and therefore 
failed to "hold the truth in love." The overcomer 
of this condition secures the privilege of the tree 
of life in the paradise of God. 

The Smyrna church is the church of the "flesh" 
—the self life, self-indulgence. He that dies to 
the self-life, and overcomes through the "cruci- 
fied-life" is rewarded with protection from the 
second death — the death of the soul. 

The Pergamos church is the church of the 
world — "love of the world, which is enmity with 
God." The overcomer of this tendency receives 
the pledge of the hidden manna and the new 
name. 

The Thyatiran church is the church of 
Satan — "depths of Satan." The overcomer of 
this psychical deception shall obtain pozver — au- 
thority to rule over the nations. 

Sardis is the church of spiritual death. The 
overcomer of this deadness is appointed to the 
priesthood of purity and life. 

108 



THE MESSAGES TO THE CHURCHES 



Philadelphia is the church of perfect love, and 
the overcomer of all declensions from this 
"greatest thing" is taken into partnership with 
Christ in His eternal kingdom. 

Laodicea is the church of judgment; the over- 
comer in this church secures position on the 
throne of judgment with Christ. 



Church 

Ephesus 

Smyrna 

Pergamos 

Thyatira 

Sardis 

Laodicea 

Philadelphia 



TABULATION 
Condition Failure 



Doctrine 

Flesh 

World 

Satan 

Death 

Judgment 

Love 



Love 

Suffering 

Money 

Worship 

Forms 

Pride , 

; 'Never Faileth' ; 



Reward 

Privilege 

Protection 

Pledge 

Power 

Priesthood 

Position 

Partnership 



It is remarkable to see the logical progres- 
sion in the declension of the "church age" and 
individual conditions during the church period. 
From Ephesus we proceed as follows: Word, 
(Doctrine,) Flesh, World, Satan, Death, Judg- 
ment; while out of all these prevailing conditions 
is "gathered a people unto His name" — through 
Love — the Philadelphia church, or "Body of 
Christ," which is "caught up to meet her Lord 
in the air." 

Now to the one who overcomes all these 
different conditions of failure in the church, who 
maintains love, dies to the -flesh and lives the 
crucified-life; overcomes the world; resists the 
Devil; rises above death; puts down pride; 



109 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



realizes perfect love — to all such shall be given 
the right to "inherit all things/' Rev. 21 : 7. 

Oh, dear people! We of the church of the 
Living God must be witnesses against these 
things, for they must all be overcome by him 
who would at last sit with Christ on the Throne. 
So let us run that we may obtain. 



no 



VI 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 

WANT to study with you now 
Chapters 4 and 5 which contain 
the vision and position of the Bride 
of Christ, the church of the first- 
born, which is composed of the 
overcomers in the various churches 
who in this chapter are massed 
into one company. They have over- 
come all these different phases: departure from 
God and from His truth ; departure from His love 
and from His service; from His name and His 
worship — all these phases have been overcome, 
and they have been called up. John who was 
inspired in the first chapter to get the vision of 
Christ, now is enraptured, for he says, "immedi- 
ately I was in the Spirit." This is the second 
phase of his experience ; not that he lost the first, 
but that he gets a larger measure of the Holy 
Spirit's thrill. The first inspiration was for a 
vision of the Lord, who came down to him on 
the earth where He gave him certain communica- 
tions including the seven-fold message to the 
churches ; but now a larger measure of inspiration 
comes upon him, which literally means enrapture- 
ment, and he doesn't stay on the earth. It takes 
him up into the heavenly place where the throne 
is; up into the third heaven where no man had 
yet gone, save the Son of God who came down 




111 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



from heaven. Paul went up into paradise and 
looked into the third heaven, he tells us in II. Cor. 
12, but no man had ascended up where the Father 
is, but the Son who came down from the Father. 
But now John is caught away in the Spirit and 
sees what will be there when the Bride is taken 
up. The Bride has not yet been taken up, but 
just as sure as the vision of it came to John, so 
truly when the time arrives, the reality will 
occur. 

/After this the church appears no more on earth 
in the book of Revelation. We read of her 
again in Chapter 19 when she comes back with 
her Lord. How did she get to heaven? She 
went up in Chapter 4. Everything is in heaven in 
Chapters 4 and 5 ; not a thing happening on the 
earth. 

There are ten items in these two chapters that 
I want to speak about. The first is the open door 
and the called-up church, which John represents 
here all the way through as being enraptured, 
which constitutes the parousia, and is the fulfill- 
ment of I. Thess. 4:16, 17, "For the Lord Him- 
self shall descend from heaven, (and He did and 
John saw Him) with a shout, with the voice of 
the archangel, (that is Gabriel) and with the 
trump of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise 
first. Then we which are alive and remain, shall 
be caught up together with them in the clouds, 
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we 
ever be with the Lord. Wherefore encourage one 
another with these words." 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 



The fulfillment of this Thessalonian scripture, 
and also that of John 5 :25-28 occurs at the same 
time that Revelation 4 and 5 are fulfilling. This 
company will be made up of two groups; the 
faithful dead and the faithful living, for they each 
hear the voice. If you want something that is 
the nearest thing to the little white stone we read 
of in the history of the church at Pergamos, I 
will tell you what it is : it is this certitude of the 
knowledge of the voice of the Son of God. You 
remember how you knew your mother's voice. 
Well, in some way akin to that you may know 
the voice of the Mother Spirit of God. When 
you get beyond the place of being deceived by 
voices, you will then know the voice of God, 
and will recognize it even if you are sleeping 
in the ground. But you must learn to know it 
while you are living, for they that hear that voice 
shall live. "Marvel not at this: for the hour 
is coming, in the which all that are in the graves 
shall hear His voice and shall come forth; they 
that have done good, unto the resurrection of 
life; and they that have done evil, unto the 
resurrection of judgment." There is a thousand 
years between these two resurrections, and nearly 
the whole book of Revelation lies between them: 
from Chapter 4 away over to the end of Chapter 
20. 

The next item is the throne and the rainbow. 
I speak of these combined, because it says here, 
"Immediately I was in the Spirit: and behold, a 
thronewassetin heaven, and upon the throne one 

113 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



sitting' —the Ancient of Days, God the Father, and 
the rainbow round about the throne. This is the 
second item in chapter 4 that the throne and the 
rainbow open to us. These are suggestive or 
typical of the two great covenants, the Abrahamic 
covenant and the Noachic covenant. The Abra- 
hamic covenant relates to the throne power of 
God, and is seven-fold. It is recorded in Gen. 
13 :14-18 ; 15 :5, 6; and 17:1-14. Then there is the 
Noachic covenant (Gen. 8:20-22 and 9:8-17) typi- 
fied by the rainbow, but here in Revelation 
you have the rainbow in heaven. You see it no 
more on earth, because the Noachic covenant is 
not operative at the time herein set forth, and 
therefore tribulation can begin. Things are ab- 
normal now, disturbed very badly at times, out 
of order and out of season, but they cannot yet 
go entirely wrong for that old covenant that 
God made with Noah holds things together. The 
Lord said He would not again visit the earth with 
a flood, or destroy mankind with water, or curse 
the earth, but that He would work on another 
line ; renew the heart of man by His grace and 
take out of it its evil imagination, and He has 
been doing it for us. That is greater than curs- 
ing the earth. ''Neither will I again smite any 
more everything living, as I have done." He 
won't, for even tribulation curses only a third 
part of the earth, because that is all that belongs 
to Satan who does the cursing. God is no more 
cursing the earth; God is no more entering into 
judgment with man. God is reconciled to every- 



114 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 



body on earth through the death of His Son, and 
doesn't even impute unto men their trespasses. 
He asks them to believe the record of His Son, 
believe the work of His Son and to accept the 
salvation that is already provided. The Holy 
Spirit convicts men of only one thing; of sin, 
the sin of rejecting salvation through Christ, and 
doesn't impute trespasses, and doesn't talk to them 
about drunkenness and harlotry, and gambling 
and lying, and all that kind of thing. You are mis- 
taken in your, preaching; quit telling people so 
much about their sins. Preach the truth and tell 
them of Jesus and His finished work for all who 
believe, and they will be convicted by the Spirit 
of God, but don't let us get wiser than the Spirit. 
He convicts of sin. Every man knows his sins 
better than any mortal can tell him. A man told 
me that today down town. "Yes," he said, "I 
know it." "But," I said, "you do not know the 
way out." "My God," he said, "I wish I did." 
I said, "It is Jesus! 3 The only way to get rid 
of sin is to "behold the Lamb of God that taketh 
away the sin of the world." The minute you 
accept Him as that, He takes away your sins. 
The minute you behold Him, it is done. 

"While the earth remaineth, seedtime and 
harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and 
winter, and day and night shall not cease." There 
you have the four-fold covenant. When the Bride 
is taken up, the rainbow, the sign of that covenant, 
is taken with her. The Noachic covenant has 
preserved the earth for man's sake, and now 



115 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



"the prince of the power of the air" moves down 
on the earth and has his time of seven years, and 
tribulation breaks loose. We hear about preter- 
natural things in the world, but we are just see- 
ing a little of it now; only the beginnings just 
as we see the beginnings of the Antichrist, but 
then it will be dreadful — sun, moon, stars and 
earth, everything out of its order, presided over 
and controlled by Satan for a little time. That 
brings tribulation. No Holy Spirit here to hold 
things down then ; no "overcomers" filled with the 
Holy Ghost, living on the earth. It would be 
intolerable to live in Chicago then. It's bad 
enough now. The rainbow is up yonder, then. 
And listen! No blood color in it now; it is an 
emerald. Why is it an emerald? Why green? 
Why wasn't it blue or red? You would think it 
ought to be. No, it had to be green. That is the 
earth color. 

There is no red in the rainbow, no blood color. 
It was "like unto an emerald." The blue is 
the heavens, the divine color; the green is the 
earth, the nature color, and the red is the redemp : 
tive color, the blood of Jesus, that which joins 
the earth to the heavens — that brought reconcilia- 
tion between the heavens and the earth, and now 
He has redeemed the earth and lifted a portion 
up into the heavens, and you will see the rainbow 
no more on the earth. You will see it once more, 
but it is when Jesus appears and it is around 
His head. 

The "sea of glass" comes third in order. "There 

116 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 



was a sea of glass like unto crystal." This means 
visibility. Nothing is secret now; earth and hell 
may stand out to gaze. He is going to let all see 
up through the great window of glass and see 
them actually standing on it, and they can see 
their feet but they cannot touch them anymore. 
The sea of glass, transparent as- crystal ! We are 
going to walk along on it. We were in a big 
basement the other day in one of the stores of 
your city and my wife said to me, "Just l°°k at 
the multitude of feet coming along." I thought 
that was illustrative of this sea of glass. They 
were tramping along; we could just see the 
shadow of their feet and that was all. God just 
lets it be known that they are up there on that 
"sea of glass." Why is it glass? For two 
reasons : the first is, it is transparent, so you can 
view it, and know that the "overcomers" are 
really up there. Secondly, they are insulated, for 
glass is a perfect insulator. No current of hell, 
no poison of asps, no damning sin. 

"No chilling wind or poisonous breath 

Shall reach that blissful shore, 
Sickness and sorrow, pain and death, 
Are felt and feared no more." 

Insulated ! We can be partially insulated now, 
but not entirely. You can have your spirit and 
your soul insulated, but as long as you are in the 
flesh, in your mortal body, you will be subject to 
conditions that oppress you, but our spirits and 
our souls ought to be so hid with Christ in God 
that the evil one cannot touch us. Some people 



117 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



testify you can reach that condition physically, 
but I haven't seen any one yet who has reached 
it. 

After the sea of glass come the "four living 
creatures'' in verse 8; these make up the fourth 
item. Well, who are these? I believe they are 
Enoch, Moses, Elijah and John, one from each 
of the great dispensations, the patriarchal, the 
Levitical, the prophetical and the Gospel. They 
are living ones. It is shown in the next chapter 
that they have been redeemed by the blood of 
Jesus, therefore they are men. Now here are four 
men that we have no record ever died ; four men 
for whom there have been no graves on earth. 
You say it says Moses went up into the Mount 
and died. I know it says Moses died but the 
Hebrew that is translated "died" says he was 
"kissed" away. If you do not believe me go to 
the Rabbis who are well versed in Hebrew, and 
they will tell you what the Jewish church believes. 
They do not believe that Moses died. His eye 
was not dimmed nor his natural force abated, 
though he had lived the three times forty years. 
He ought to have had forty years more in Pales- 
tine but he sinned against God. He was much 
honored, however, for he didn't have to walk 
over Jordan, but went in on the air line and 
lighted on the highest peak in the land and there 
communed with the Lord Himself on Mount 
Hermon at the Transfiguration. And then a little 
while after he stood, as I believe, with Elijah on 
Mount Olivet and said to the disciples who had 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 



seen the Lord go up in the clouds, "He will so 
come in like manner as you have seen Him go 
up into heaven/' Moses and Elijah are consider- 
ably in evidence in this book, each executing the 
same things they did in their ministry when on 
earth, one producing the ten great plagues of 
Egypt, and the other calling down fire out of 
heaven. Enoch walked with God, and was not, 
for God took him as He also afterwards took 
Elijah, and John saw himself there in advance. 

There is no record of John's death. He was 
banished to Patmos by the Emperor of Rome. He 
served out his period and got the greatest vis- 
ion ever granted to mortal man, and gave it t6 
the world in this book we are now studying. Then 
they tried to boil his flesh off his bones in a cal- 
dron of boiling oil. Jesus said of him, "If I will 
that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? 
Follow thou Me. Then went this saying abroad 
among the brethren, that that disciple should not 
die/' This statement occurs in the Gospel which 
was written after he wrote The Revelation. He 
says that Jesus didn't say he should not die ; John 
is very modest about it, but there is the hint in 
the statement, "If I will that he tarry till I come 
besides there is no record of his death, and nc 
grave that marks his resting place. Thus we have 
some good inference from the Bible that John was 
one of this number of living ones. If these are 
not the four living creatures, tell me who are? 
This is the best evidence we can deduce from the 
Bible, and I believe they are four men who have 

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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. They 
represent in each of their respective ages a living 
portion of the Bride who are to get to heaven 
without dying. To prove that great prospective 
and perspective truth, God took a man out of 
each age, to teach the world that when His work 
of redemption was accomplished, He was going to 
take out of the earth a multitude of living captives 
and make them like His Son in glory. 

Then we have the "twenty-four elders" {fifth 
item) ; twelve men in the old dispensation and 
twelve in the new; not necessarily the patriarchs 
and apostles, but twenty-four representative ones 
that are the type and sample of the sleeping por- 
tion of the Bride, together with the living portion 
caught up to meet the Lord in the air. These 
are the two advanced ranks and are near the 
throne, singing the songs of creation, of atone- 
ment and redemption. 

The four living creatures are the first rank 
next to Christ, and the four and twenty elders the 
next, and then, of course, there were first fruits, 
a multitude of captives that Jesus released at His 
resurrection, and who walked the streets of Je- 
rusalem during His days on earth. Then they 
that are Christ's at His parousia, and afterwards 
the general resurrection. 

Then follows the sixth item, the first song of 
the book, which we have referred to in our "out- 
line of the book." 

In Chapter 5 we have the seventh item, the 
"scroll," the book of judgments of the last times. 

120 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 



It contains seven seals from the throne, opening 
into the seven trumpets from the altar — the last 
of the seals opening up into the new series of 
seven trumpets, the seven trumpets opening the 
seven bowls of wrath from the ark, which we 
expect by and by to trace through the tribulation. 

We are here introduced to "the judgment seat 
of Christ," and the "Roll" or "Book" of the 
judgments of the last days is to be opened. 

^ And I saw in the right hand of Him that sitteth on 
the throne, a roll written within and on the back side, 
firmly sealed with seven seals. And I saw a mighty 
angel proclaiming, with a loud voice, "Who is worthy 
to open the roll, and to loose the seals thereof?" And 
no one was able in heaven, nor on the earth, neither 
under the earth, to open the roll, neither to look therein. 
Rev. 5:1-3. 

No one was found worthy to open the roll or 
look therein. I might say this word "worthy" 
doesn't mean worthy as to right character, but as 
to ability ; they were not developed sufficiently, 
or equal to it, and perhaps that would be allow- 
able here, and some so render it. No one was 
equal to the task of even looking therein. 

<& And I wept much, because no one was found worthy 
to open the roll, neither to look therein. And one of the 
elders said unto me, "Weep not : behold, the Lion that 
is of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, prevaileth to 
open the roll, and the seven seals thereof." Rev. 5:4. 

He was the Lion of the tribe of Juda, He w r as 
the Root of David, but that didn't give Him the 
prevailing power. This is how He prevailed : 

And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four 
living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb, 
standing as it had been slain, having seven horns and 

121 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God which 
have been sent forth into all the earth. And he came 
and took the roll out of the right hand of Him that 
sitteth upon the throne. Rev. 5:6, 7. 

He prevailed as the Lamb. "He (the Lamb) 
came and took the roll and loosed the seven seals 
thereof/' He had prevailed as a Lamb over sin 
and death, and devils and hell, and had "led cap- 
tivity captive and had bestowed gifts upon men/' 
even the promise of the Father, and as that same 
atoning Lamb He can prevail in heaven for us. 
He can open rolls, He can break seals. He can 
give you and me a vision of this book, but no one 
else can, and it is only to the extent that you have 
seen that dying, bleeding, yet living, loving Lamb, 
will you ever see what is in this book. It is the 
Lamb that opens, and the more we come into the 
spirit of the Lamb, the more we will see what 
is in this book, and every book of the divine 
library. 

Then in verses 5 and 6 we have the great Tri- 
une Name of Him who "prevailed to open the 
scroll" — -The Lion of the Tribe of Juda, The Root 
of David, and the Lamb of Calvary. He was the 
Lion of Juda as to His relationship; He is the 
Root. of David as to His race and humanity, but 
He is the Lamb of Calvary as God's offering. 

Notice these five things in these wonderful 
verses, 5 and 6. He is the Lion as to our adver- 
sary. Satan is a roaring lion, going about seeking 
whom he may devour. We have a Lion to match 
that lion and we trust in our Lion to take care of 
the old lion. 



122 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 



He is the Root as to the new seed that He be- 
comes in the earth; that is, "the primal one" as 
Colossians has it; the incorruptible seed that the 
devil tried and could not corrupt, the logos that 
liveth and abideth forever. We are born of that. 

He is the Lamb as to our redemption, redeem- 
ing us from sin. 

Then we read of the seven eyes which are the 
seven spirits — eyes as to our revelation and vision ; 
our instruction and guidance. Then the throne, 
as to our dignity, position and relationship, our 
overcoming, our joint-heirship, our glory forever, 
and all these in the one Person of Christ. With 
all of these back of Him, He says, "I have right, 
I am equal, I am sufficient, I prevailed to open the 
little book of the judgment of the last days, be- 
cause I have redeemed the world, and that part 
of it that would not accept my redemption must 
receive this judgment." 

The next item (the ninth) is the harps and the 
bowls which are now brought forth. Before the 
second song of praise can begin the prayers are 
presented, and I want to emphasize the fact that 
there is no praise on earth that is worthy the name 
that has not issued from the altar of prayer. You 
may talk about Pentecostal praises all you please, 
they never issued in the Early Church until they 
were brought down or brought through in prayer. 
There is no praise in heaven until you bring out 
the golden bowls before the golden altar, filled 
with the incense, which is the prayers of the 
saints; then the first song of glory breaks out, 



123 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



the song of creation, the three-fold song, the tri- 
une song of the Triune God, and so it is in the 
church militant. I have heard so-called Pente- 
costal praises, but the life these days that slips 
through without much prayer will be weak, and 
fail sooner or later. You may have some shouts, 
you may have some praises, but sooner or later 
hosannas will languish on your lips and your de- 
votion will die unless backed up by much prayer. 
The order must be the Word of God first; then 
prayer, and then praise. Because I have been to 
the altar of incense, therefore I can bring out the 
harps — but the bowls first, and then the harps. 
First prayer, then "Psalms and hymns and spir- 
itual songs, making melody in your heart to the 
Lord." 

Then they sing a new song. The song of cre- 
ation is the first song in the book; this second 
song is the atonement song. There are three parts 
in it ; the elders and the four living creatures take 
up the first part, then all the bridal company of 
thousands upon thousands, and the angels around 
the throne numbering myriads of myriads and 
then all that are in the earth, under the earth, and 
in the sea responding, a great antiphonal chorus, 
wonder of wonders. 

One night as I was walking down Broadway, 
New York City, to an appointment I was soon 
to fill, I heard old Trinity with its chimes, so mu- 
sical and regular, ringing out that beautiful old 
hymn, 

"Nearer my God to Thee, 
Nearer to Thee," 

124 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 



and it didn't get through more than half a stanza 
until I heard St. Paul's, a little further up Broad- 
way, peal forth from its chime, 

"When peace like a river attendeth my way, 

When sorrows like sea-billows roll, 
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, 
It is well, it is well with my soul." 

I thought, "My ! what an antiphonal chorus that 
is !" The melody was sweet, and I said, "Yes, Lord, 
nearer to Thee, and it will be well with my soul." 
It inspired a new message in my soul, and I went 
over to Brooklyn and delivered it that night. 

Well, here these four living creatures and 
twenty-four elders take up this song, and sing the 
first part of it, and then the great bridal company 
sing the seven-fold anthem back again, the tenth 
item: 

f§ "Worthy is the Lamb that hath been slain to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and might, and honor, 
and glory and blessing." Rev. 5 : 12. 

The atonement song! The redemption song! 
They sang the song of creation in the last verses 
of Chapter 4, but it seems the Bride doesn't join 
them. The four creatures and the twenty-four 
elders appear to be introducing things. Then all 
classes of the redeemed join in — the Bride takes 
up her part of this great song with them and re- 
sponds, and all the earth joins in the four-fold 
response — things on the earth, under the earth, 
on the sea and in the sea, all saying, 

1$ "Blessing, and honor, and glory, and dominion forever 
and ever." Rev. 5:13. 



125 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



There is no tribulation on the earth until the 
prayers of the saints have begun to be answered, 
and the bowls which are filled with the incense, 
which is the prayers of the saints are begun to be 
poured out. Indeed, it is the beginning of the 
answers to these prayers that constitutes the un- 
folding of visitations upon the earth. But these 
prayers are the prayers of intercession, not ordi- 
nary prayers. New Testament intercession is 
found only in saints, and under the immediate 
energizing of the Holy Spirit. You can pray 
other prayers, penitential prayers, for example, 
but intercessory prayer is very different from or- 
dinary prayer. Romans 8 :26 teaches you definite- 
ly that He, the Spirit, helps our infirmities; that 
is, bears them, and makes intercession in and for 
the saints. 

You need not put a prayer in another tongue 
one iota higher than a prayer in your mother 
tongue, for the Holy Spirit can be just as much 
present in one as in the other ; the difference is in 
your thought-life. There are things we could not 
utter in our mother tongue because we cannot 
think them out, and yet the desire is formed in 
our spirit, and then the Holy Spirit gives utter- 
ance in a tongue which we do not have. There 
are people so untutored in the Word of God that 
they think a prayer in a tongue is away beyond 
one in a mother tongue, but this is not taught in 
the Word. 

Now I believe that no prayer of intercession 
will ever go unanswered. Some may not be 

126 



THE BRIDE ENRAPTURED 



answered until the coming of Christ, but a prayer 
that has gotten into the golden bowls, must be 
answered. The intercession of the Holy Spirit 
through the saints of God determines in no small 
degree the nature of the tribulation, a fact easily 
seen by referring to Chapter 6:9-11. 

The response that is sung in Chapter 5 :9, 10, is 
four-fold ; it is participated in by heaven and 
earth, and by those under the earth and in the sea. 

I am convinced that those who go up in Chap- 
ters 4 and S constitute a part of the Bride. These 
two chapters together form a company of resur- 
rected and living saints, and comprise a hundred 
million souls. Did you ever think of that? There 
are two sets of figures here, and I have turned 
them over and put them together over and over 
again, and I am satisfied that the "myriads of 
myriads" refers to the angels around the throne, 
and the "ten thousand times ten thousand" — one 
hundred million, refers to the Bride. And so, al- 
ready in this book you have the four living creat- 
ures, the twenty-four elders, and one hundred mil- 
lion souls in glory. Did you ever think there were 
so many ? It is a great encouragement to every be- 
liever to think that God is getting some of His 
own. Why even that number is only one-sixteenth 
of the present population of the earth. In that 
day you will have three great surprises : first, that 
there are so many there ; secondly, that some are 
not there whom you expected and hoped to see, 
and lastly, and most of all, that you are there 
yourself. 

127 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



As I close this lecture I feel that your hearts 
are trembling with mine, your souls are quivering 
with mine with the thought that if that call 
should come from a voice we have known, some 
of us so long, "Would I really go?" Oh, my 
brother, my sister, it is not merely a question of 
getting saved ; it is a bigger matter than that. It's 
preparing to meet the Son of Man at His coming. 
Listen to the summons ! Commit everything ; com- 
mit your children, your wife, your husband ; com- 
mit your father and mother, your brothers and sis- 
ters. Commit them all in real faith to the Lord, 
for just what you put into the bowls will come out 
in thunders and lightnings on the earth; in an- 
swers of salvation to some, and of judgment to 
others. 



128 



VII 



THE SEALS OPENED 

HE sixth chapter introduces us to 
the tribulation, because the church 
has been taken up into glory and 
the Lamb has been found equal 
to prevail with ability and authori- 
ty to open the book of the judg- 
ment of the last days. The grace 
of God has restrained thus far, 
kept iniquity within bounds, but now both these 
restraining influences are removed and the day 
of grace is ended. We are back under Jewish 
law again, and are beginning the prophetic seven- 
tieth week of Daniel's prophecy. (Daniel 
9:24-27.) Gentile times end with the taking out 
of the Gentile Bride, the church; hence at this 
stage in the events of this book God's grace does 
not prevene as it does now, going before and 
following after people, protecting them on the 
right hand and on the left, even while they are 
sinning against Him. He does now as He did with 
Israel in the wilderness; the record says, "He 
served with their sins," and He is doing that today 
for the sake of His covenant and for the sake 
of His great Name. 

We are now introduced to this seventieth week 
of Daniel's prophecy that has been held in sus- 
pense during the great parenthesis of the Gentile 
period of more than two thousand years ; the time 

129 




THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



of God's "long suffering/' as Peter calls it, and it 
is pretty long when it covers twenty centuries. 
We have the same actors as before — there are the 
Lamb and the living creatures ; but the manifes- 
tations now all move earthward ; they were heav- 
enward in our last lecture, but they are all earth- 
ward now. We will take this up by items and 
look into it. 

Item i. After the first of the seals of this book 
is broken, we see the white horse; the first living 
creature says, "Come." A white horse appears and 
one sitting on him having a bow, v/hich indicates 
a warrior. He is a barbarous warrior; to him 
was given a crown, crowned as the king of such 
warriors. Now this is not a crown of reward 
for God's people; nor is it the diadem which is 
put on the head of Jesus in Chapter 19, but this 
is just a gilded crown, a cheap wash thing like 
you read in the margin a little later on, about 
Babylon the golden; but which in the Greek is 
"Babylon the gilded." There is only one true 
crown and that is the diadem which Jesus gets 
in Chapter 19; then there are a lot of real gold 
crowns to be put on the heads of the overcomers. 
But this crown is a gilded crown given to this 
warrior. He did nothing worthy of a real crown. 
"He went forth conquering and to conquer." This 
is the first appearance of the Antichrist on the 
earth, and he comes to imitate the Lord Jesus 
Christ in every respect. He comes on a white 
horse as though he were the champion of purity, 
and of the rights of the people; comes with a 



130 



THE SEALS OPENED 

bow and an arrow as though he represented truth 
and strength which the arrow and bow always 
symbolize, but he has neither ; he is a great con- 
queror, but he is evil and not good. Now this 
story from Chapters 6 to 18 is all future in its 
distinctive and specific operation; it has been 
shadowed in general down through the centuries, 
but in its fulness it is still future, and will all 
be worked out literally. We have seen the Bride 
go to heaven and the vision up there; now we 
are to see what will happen literally on the earth. 
This Antichrist comes to introduce these things. 
"Another shall come, ,, Jesus said to the Jews in 
John 5:43, "in his own name, and him you will 
receive. I have come in My Father's Name, and 
ye receive Me not/' They will receive him for 
the first half of the tribulation week, according 
to the prophecy of Daniel 9:27. Daniel is the 
beloved prophet and seer of eschatological visions 
in the Old Testament, while John is the beloved 
apostle and the greater seer of the consummation 
of things. What Daniel saw in political vision, 
John sees religiously and otherwise. Two be- 
loved men in the Bible, Daniel the beloved 
prophet, and John the beloved apostle; they 
are the great seers in the Bible, and what they 
saw synchronizes and harmonizes beautifully. 

Ezekiel, chapter 14, should be read in connec- 
tion with Revelation 6, for it refers to the judg- 
ment on Jerusalem for her sins. 

We have seen the four living creatures and 
the elders up in heaven, robed, crowned and 



131 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



throned, and the Bride there with them; you and 
I are among them anticipatively, and though the 
time has not yet come for its realization, the in- 
spiration of it is with us. Now the throne comes 
to its place just at the moment that John beheld 
it in that vision we saw in Chapters 4 and 5, and 
there it stays in the vision until we have Christ 
back again on the earth ; there it stays for seven 
years, and all this indicates to us a new adminis- 
tration both in heaven and on earth. 

Christ and His Bride are in glory ; Antichrist 
and his bride are on the earth, so there is absolute 
separation. There are two, the true Bride with 
the true Christ in heaven, the false bride with 
the Antichrist on the earth. But this is not clear 
to some because of the double mystery, the mys- 
tery of iniquity blinding the people, and the lack 
of spiritual perception to see the mystery of the 
Bride. It takes years of study and prayer and 
tears to see it, but by and by the line of cleavage 
will be drawn, the curtain will be rent, and we 
shall see all things plainly./ 

Now we are dealing with a false Christ and a 
false church by picture, but we are not yet in it. 
How then are we able so to contemplate it, and so 
to see it, and so to understand it, that it is so 
real to us? Because we are exalted to the view- 
point of God and the ages. We are getting to 
the sea of glass where everything is transparent, 
and like a man on a mountain above the clouds, 
are looking down and seeing the troublous times 

132 



THE SEALS OPENED 



in the valley beneath. We are with Christ in 
glory ; we are "on the glory side." 

Item 2. The second seal was opened by the 
second living creature, saying, "Come." "And 
there came forth another, a red horse" Now 
Antichrist's work begins to be opened up, and 
this is the horse of war. Three things indicate 
this : he takes peace from the earth ; "they slay 
one another," and a great sword is given him. 
The red horse is always a war horse. He sheds 
blood, and war begins; war to the death, and 
those that were not ready and were not caught 
away are now going to suffer martyrdom of 
which pagan and papal Rome are but a faint 
type. It is estimated that 50,000,000 Christians 
have been martyred for the testimony of Jesus. 
It is not hard then to have 50,000,000 more, for 
all true martyrs are members of the Bride of the 
Lamb, and come up in the first resurrection. If 
you have never read Foxe's Book of Martyrs 
you should do so. Get a copy of it and your 
heart will burn with a new devotion to Christ. 
Our young boys grow up to read about the great 
military men who have sacrificed so much for 
patriotism, but I should rather have our boys 
and girls read of the warriors of the cross of 
Christ that counted not their lives dear unto 
themselves, but who finished the testimony that 
the Lord had given them, and laid down their 
lives for His sake. 

There will be great war ; this introduces awful 

133 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



scenes in the earth, Satanic power in legal sway 
under the Antichrist. 

Item 3. "And I saw and behold a black horse/' 
which all agree is the horse of famine, and the 
indication is everything is to be weighed out as 
they are beginning even now to do with fruits 
and vegetables. We are coming into the shadow 
of these things now. The politicians, the law- 
makers, and tariff framers are smiling in their 
fatness as they roll on in their automobiles, having 
their great banquets while the tax-payer pays 
the bill. The poor will soon be compelled to 
pray "give us this day our daily bread." Already 
the shadow of the balances are over our own 
fruitful country, the garden of the earth. When 
prices have gone where they are now in a land 
like this, it is a crime that cries unto the God 
of Sabaoth, and while I am not a socialist, com- 
munist or an anarchist, I do not wonder that the 
forces are uniting along these lines. When you 
pray again the Lord's prayer, think of it more 
seriously, for it will mean more than it does now 
before you and I go up. And that is not all : there 
is so much deception in the balances that the tax- 
payers have to go down in their pockets and pay 
a horde of inspectors to keep the balances right, 
so what you do not lose by false weight, you have 
to pay a man to guarantee right weight. 

"And I heard as it were a voice in the midst 
of the four living creatures," not down on earth, 
they do not realize it there, but the voice in the 
midst of the four living creatures says, "a meas- 

134 



THE SEALS OPENED 



ure of wheat for a penny, and three measures 
of barley for a penny ; and see thou hurt not the 
oil and the wine" — which, according to Dean Al- 
ford and other scholars, means much. Everything 
is precious then, as it used to be for example, in 
Ireland when they never peeled the potatoes. 
That is real famine and it always follows war. 

Item 4. Then comes the pale horse, which 
means pestilence, sickness, an epidemic of disease 
and plague which always follows famine and 
war ; "and he that sat on him was called Death, 
and Hades (the grave) followed with him," and 
there was given to this fourth horse authority 
over the fourth part of the earth; the fourth 
part of humanity will be slain or die of pesti- 
lence, a large portion of them will be Christians 
that were not ready for the parousia of our Lord. 
These things may overtake this present genera- 
tion, and very likely will. But when he opens 
the fifth seal there is a change, a marked change 
now, and the scene is again one that concerns God 
and His people. This awful three-fold devesta- 
tion of Antichrist — war, famine, and pestilence 
have done their deadly work, and from under- 
neath the altars, where they have perished be- 
cause of the faith they held, comes up the cry 
of these martyred saints. We have had it in 
type back in pagan and papal Rome, but this is 
the culmination of it. These are not the martyrs 
of those days ; they have gone up to be with the 
Lord. This is the section thai will be slain dur- 
ing this first part of the tribulation week. They 



135 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



wanted to be avenged and set free, because God 
has promised vengeance on the blood of His 
people; the imprecatory Psalms are full of that, 
and they are righteous prayers, but Christians are 
too timid today to pray them. Christians have 
a right to pray for God to be avenged on the 
enemies of His church and His people in these 
Gospel days. You have a right to do it, for 
Christ Himself made that declaration in His min- 
istry, but we haven't enough righteous backbone 
to do it. We are too insipid; we haven't the 
courage and the boldness ; too much sentimental- 
ism in our religion yet; got too much of the 
Smyrna and Pergamos stamp on it to suit God; 
too much flesh and world. 

"And there was given unto them severally a 
white robe;" that means they were in the pres- 
ence of God; the white robe, priestly garments, 
means you can stand in the holy place; so He 
gives them white robes, but He says, "You rest 
for a little season." Why? "Until the first half 
of the week is completed, and there are others 
of your fellows and brethren that are about to 
be killed even as you are, and I want to gather 
up all the appointed number out of this first half 
of the tribulation week." 

Item 5. Then he opens the sixth seal and fin- 
ishes this three and a half years, the first half of 
Daniel's week, and this is the worst part of it 
all. After what is said here about those who be- 
come saints in the midst of the tribulation he 
opens the sixth seal and there is a great earth- 

136 



THE SEALS OPENED 



quake shaking the whole earth, the earth reels 
as the prophet said, "like a drunken man, and the 
people fall on their faces/' You could not walk 
the earth that day any more than you could walk 
the ship's deck in the Euroclydon. What con- 
sternation! Oh what confusion! Oh what ter- 
ror! Let me characterize this awful condition 
of things that ends up the first half of the week. 
You read the account of the great cosmic dis- 
turbances described in verses 12 to 14 which occur 
at the end of the first half of the week ; then he 
introduces it again, takes it up on another line 
until it ends in an awful catastrophe. A great 
earthquake, the greatest cosmic disturbances this 
world has ever seen. "The sun becomes black as 
sackcloth of hair, the whole of the moon becomes 
as blood: the stars of the heavens fall unto the 
earth," and the atmosphere is changed; amazing 
atmospheric changes. The sun, in the next half 
of the week, strikes man with death which it 
cannot do now except in some parts of the earth 
where the atmosphere borders on this condition. 
Then there follows great confusion and dissolu- 
tion of governmental authority, commercially, in- 
dustrially, politically, and socially. The kings of 
the earth, with the members of their cabinets and 
the chief captains, the army generals and leaders, 
the rich men, all the millionaires, are then in great 
confusion. 

Five classes are here mentioned, we have two 
of them yet. God pity them ! "And every bond- 
man," that is the poor down-trodden, oppressed, 

137 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



half-starved laborer; those who could not help 
themselves, no matter how much they tried. The 
labor organizations do not help but rather in- 
tensify the troubles. Labor men by the scores 
have told me that the labor unions do not help 
them, but tax them the heavier for the strikes, 
and bring little or no relief. These, like storm- 
tossed mariners at their wits' ends, if they cry to 
the Lord, will be heard by Him. These op- 
pressed, down-trodden men and women are God's 
own children, and He is the God of Sabaoth. 
Read James 5 : 1-12. When those millionaires 
and syndicates of capitalists and corporations 
will not hear the cry, and civic rulers won't hear, 
James says God will hear in the last days. "Their 
cry will come up into the ears of the Lord God 
of Sabaoth." He is the God of Hosts, the God 
of vengeance, of judgment, and the cry is coming 
up. There are poor women weeping for homes 
they can not furnish right, and children they can 
not clothe right, these are going up unto the ears 
of my God and your God. "How long, oh Lord, 
how long!" Not long now, thank God. This 
Book I hold in my hand is the great Magna 
Charta of universal liberty, peace forever ; King 
John's Magna Charta that proclaimed liberty to 
the oppressed people of England is very meager 
alongside of this. Oh, my brother, we are in a busi- 
ness that ought to command all the soul there is 
in man. I wish the powers of a Roosevelt imbued 
with the Holy Spirit were engaged to go up and 
down the country with his strenuous soul and 



138 



THE SEALS OPENED 



mighty personality and tell the people the true 
condition of things. "And the free man," that 
is the employed class, the better class, the class 
that really carry on the business of the world for 
God today; they join in the great cry; they are 
afflicted, because all the sanctified people are gone, 
and these were saved but were not ready to go. 
You have the seven classes, the perfect, complete 
and prophetic sum of it all. Kings are the first 
mentioned, and they will come down first ; it is the 
big buildings that will totter and fall with the 
greatest crash "when He comes to shake terribly 
the earth." The ruins of old Pompeii is only a 
faint historical type of that day. No wonder they 
hide. They will not then be able to go into their 
fine mansions where there are great iron fences 
around, hedged in with the world, the flesh and the 
devil. They can not hide in their old palatial resi- 
dences ; they will all totter and fall ; they must run 
to the mountains and in the caves and under rocks, 
and beg in their wild prayer to be covered by them, 
for these people know better how to pray to the 
mountains filled with earthly treasure than to 
God. They have dealt in these things so much, 
sacrificing hundreds of thousands of lives an- 
nually which are little more to the rich than so 
many rats, and now they hide and say to the 
mountains, "Fall on us," and as they fall on them 
they are crushed to their doom. He says, 
"Islands will be moved ;" I read it in the text. I 
am not drawing on a fertile imagination; I am 
true to the living Word that was spoken to John, 



139 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



the old Patmostic seer. I would be ashamed to 
say less than he did, and God pity us if we do not 
believe it. 

These mighty men, the great political leaders 
and organizers of corporations and syndicates, 
and the bondmen, and the free men all pray in 
one accord, 

<I "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that 
sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 
because the great day of their wrath is come.". Rev. 
6:16, 17. 

Item 6. Now we come to the seventh seal, and 
this introduces another series. Six seals, the 
three and a half years of Daniel's seventieth week, 
are closed up, and now we come to the first great 
parenthesis of the book. Some think the fourth 
and fifth chapters are a parenthesis, but we can 
not agree to this in the harmonic outline and 
comprehensive view of this book, but this is the 
parenthesis thrown in between the sixth and 
seventh seals that has produced these awful con- 
vulsions of nature, and these fearful dissolutions. 

f$ After this I saw four angels standing on the four 
corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the 
earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor 
on the sea, nor on any tree. Rev. 7: 1. 

I have said the atmospheric conditions were all 
changed now, and the worst forms of cyclonic 
operations, tornadoes, etc., will sweep all the 
shipping from the sea. Another angel ascended 
from the sun rising in the east, having the seal 
of the living God, 



140 



THE SEALS OPENED 



^ And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to 
| whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, say- 
ing, "Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till 
we have sealed the servants of our God upon their fore- 
heads." Rev. 7:2, 3. 

And then he hears the number of them that 
were sealed, twelve thousand out of each tribe 
of Israel. Levi is put back and is reckoned a 
tribe, because his separate, spiritual ministry is 
over for the time being; at least all are become 
spiritual priests of God in the new dispensation, 
so Peter says in his letter written to Hebrew 
Christians. Dan is counted out, and you can 
easily tell why Dan is counted out if you go 
through your Bible. But I will cite you to three 
references : Genesis 30 : 6, where Dan is the first 
begotten of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; it was 
contrary to God's order and she said, judgment 
had come upon her. That is his birth-mark, if 
you please. Now let us go on a little further 
and see the old father's blessing on the tribes, 
their escutcheon, in Genesis 49: 16-18, "Dan shall 
judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel," 
and ends up by saying the trail of the serpent 
shall be in Dan. This is because the devil was in 
his birth. In Deuteronomy 33 : 22 Moses coming 
along with his tribal blessing says, Dan is going 
to be like a lion's whelp, and just leap at every- 
thing like an old roaring lion, hence Dan has no 
part in the millennial days; Dan is an apostate 
. tribe, just as there was an apostate king and an 
apostate apostle. 

Now there are twelve times twelve, making 

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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



144,000 Jews. Daniel tells us in 9:27 that in 
the midst of the week the Antichrist will break 
the covenant he has made with the Jews. When 
they find out he is not the true Christ, he will 
persecute them, and then God will put His hand 
on His people and protect them. Then will 
come true what Paul says in Romans 9 : 27, 28, a 
quotation very largely from Isaiah 10 : 22. "There 
shall be a remnant according to the election of 
grace," and here is where it comes in. Here 
144,000 are sealed of God and taken out of the 
power of the Antichrist because they are true. 
These are the advance portion of the Jewish Bride 
/that go in advance of all the other Jews just as 
the Gentile Bride goes in advance of all the great 
saved multitudes that will come afterwards. "The 
glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the 
terrestrial is another." We shall see two worlds 
and two capitals ; we shall see lots of things con- 
firming these premises I am laying down. Now 
here is where some of the other schools differ; 
they will tell you this 144,000 is the living portion 
of the Bride. I can not think so. There is noth- 
ing in this history to make that so. They are 
every one of them Jews but the Bride must be 
Gentile and if there are some Jewish brethren in 
the Bride they must have lost their identity, and 
that is what troubles some of the Jews of today. 
They do not want to lose their identity; they 
just want to accept Jesus as the Messiah. Jesus 
said to Nicodemus, "Ye must be born again." 
They say to me, "I want you to teach that the 



142 



THE SEALS OPENED 



Jew does not need to be regenerated; all we 
need is to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, but 
we won't be Christian Jews." No one will ever 
get into the kingdom of God unless he is born 
again. 

Another mark of identity of these Jewish 
"sealed ones" is, they don't sing any song at this 
time, but they will after a while, for, to antici- 
pate a little, we shall see them in Chapter 14, 
the first five verses, meeting or going with the 
Lamb on Mount Zion in His epiphany. What 
will happen when He comes back again? They 
will sing a new song which nobody else can sing, 
nobody else can learn for it is pure Hebrew, and 
is the song of physical redemption. 

Item 7. 

^ After these things I saw, and behold, a great multi- 
tude, which no one could number, out of every nation, 
and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing in the 
presence of the throne and in the presence of the Lamb 
— clothed with white robes — and palms in their hands; 
Rev. 7 : 9. 

White robed palm-bearers; these have been mis- 
taken for the Bride, but this is not the Bride ; this 
is the first section of tribulation saints, a part of 
those who cried in Chapter 6; they were to rest 
until the others had been slain through the re- 
mainder of that awful period of the first half of 
the tribulation week, the close of the sixth seal. 

"In the presence of the Lamb, clothed with 
white robes and palms in their hands," they sing 
the song of salvation, but it is a seven-fold song, 
perfect and complete, "Blessing, and glory, and 

143 



THE REVELATION OF J&SUS CHRIST 



wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, 
and might, be unto our God forever and ever. 
Amen." And one of the elders answered, saying 
unto me, "These that have been arrayed in white 
robes, what are they? and whence came they?" 

Would he ask that question if they were the 
Bride? John could not answer and he said to 
him, "My Lord, thou knowest." And the answer 
was, "These are those who come out of the 
great tribulation." Now the Bride does not come 
out of great tribulation. The Bride escapes all 
these things that are coming on the earth and 
stands before the Son of Man and is enthroned. 
Luke 21:36. Those who constitute the Bride 
are overcomers, and they get thrones. They do 
not stand in the presence of the throne and in 
the presence of the Lamb, but are seated on the 
throne with Christ. These are "presence saints" 
like the presence angels I read about in our last 
lecture. These are presence saints, attendants 
on the royal King and His royal Bride. Read 
Psalm 45 : 13, 14. You will find three classes 
there with the Bride. These came up out of great 
tribulation. They washed their robes and made 
them white in the blood of the Lamb ; therefore, 
(because of this) they are in the presence of the 
throne, and they serve Him day and night in the 
temple, but the Bride does not serve. The Bride 
reigns; "joint-heirship ;" the queen does not 
serve; the queen is served, just as the king is. 
We are serving now, but then we shall not serve 
any more, we shall reign. We have more than 



144 



THE SEALS OPENED 



served down here; we have suffered with Him 
and "if we suffer with Him we shall also reign 
with Him." We rule, we judge. Oh no, we do 
not serve. I want you to see this. This company 
are second place people, the second section of the 
Bride, calling her the first, and excepting the four 
living creatures, and the twenty-four elders, 
which are advanced, first rank ones. This is the 
second section of the Bride, the first section of 
tribulation saints, the second section of the first 
resurrection. 

This pause, or parenthesis is made, therefore, 
for the two things I have mentioned — the sealing 
of the Jews and preserving them from the Anti- 
christ power, while their mother (the "woman" 
you see afterwards) flees into the place of safety, 
away beyond the Euphrates river, and then comes 
the resurrection of these slain ones in the tribu- 
lation. They had been praying for this over in 
Chapter 5, and that prayer is answered in this, 
"and He that sitteth on the throne shall be a 
covert over them." Listen ! These are not kings 
and priests, remember, they are just servants. 
They serve Him. They are the palm bearers; 
and will occupy the same relation when He comes 
back three and a half years afterwards in His 
second coming that those children did when He 
entered into Jerusalem when He was on earth. 
That was a type of His epiphany, and He said, 
"You won't receive Me now, and your house is 
left unto you desolate, but the time will come 
when you will say 'Blessed is He that cometh in 



145 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



the name of the Lord/ " Those first palm bearers 
did say that, and the scribes and Pharisees wanted 
to stop them, but He said, "If you do the stones 
will cry out." This is typical and is foreshadowed 
in Isaiah 25 : 9, "This is our God ; we have waited 
for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salva- 
tion. " Palm-bearers hailing the Victor who has 
brought to them the victory. 

Now just a thought here. There are seven 
things about them. Christ becomes their glorified 
Lord. He shall be their shelter; "He shall be a 
covert for them." He shall be their food; "they 
shall hunger no more." He shall be their pro- 
tection ; "the sun shall not strike them, nor any 
heat." Thousands will perish from this cause in 
the tribulation time. He will be their guidance; 
"Lie shall shepherd them." He will bring them 
into beautiful and blessed fellowship ; "They shall 
be led into living fountains of waters." And, He 
will be their eternal comfort, for "He will 
wipe away all tears from their eyes." None 
of these are characteristics of the Bride, and be- 
sides she went up in Chapters 4 and 5. These 
come out of the tribulation, out of the first sec- 
tion of the tribulation saints. The first half of 
the week produces two things, the second section 
of the first resurrection, and the first fruits of 
the Jewish people, the Jewish bride, the 144,000. 
We will see their character in Chapter 14, and 
why it is so, and what place they take. These 
sing the song of salvation; the third song in 
this book. 



146 



VIII 



THE GREAT TRIBULATION 



m 



ND when he opened the seventh 
seal, there was silence in heaven 
as it were half an hour." Rev. 
8:1. That would have been very 
painful had it been on earth ; they 
would have thought the preacher 
had lost either his mind or his 
manuscript, or that the singers' 
voices had failed ; the intercessors would have 
forgotten the prayer and most of the people would 
have gone home ; but we who have been learning 
to wait on God have come to understand this. 
Did you ever love anybody enough just to sit in 
silence with them for half an hour? I have. 
"There was silence in heaven for about half an 
hour." I think if we could all get still for half 
an hour we might hear God speak something new. 
One thing this Pentecostal Movement has done; 
it has taught many people to be still — to wait in 
silence and hear the voice of God. 



The Seventh Seal 

This little pause at the opening of Chapter 8 
introduces the trumpets, by the seventh seal. 
Here another order of things is introduced, an- 
other series of more intensified tribulation judg- 
ments; the first subject of the second half of the 
tribulation week is here introduced, but before 



147 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



these judgments can fall we see the priestly work 
of Jesus being continued again in behalf of some 
of His people who remain on earth. The prayers 
of the saints are offered by Him at the golden 
altar, emptied out of the golden bowl, and they 
are answered just as in Chapter 5, verse 8, where 
before the tribulation can begin, the priestly work 
of Jesus is set forth. Before the book can be 
opened, before the seal can be broken, before the 
first living creature can say, "Come;" before 
Antichrist can begin his deceptive and destructive 
work, there must issue forth the answer to those 
prayers of the saints that had been made years and 
years ago. The answer is two-f old, because, as we 
saw in the last lecture, Christ's ministry produces 
two effects; for as He joins His incense with the 
prayers of the saints, and they are offered to- 
gether at the golden altar, the 100,000,000 tribu- 
lation saints are taken out of the troubles of this 
earth, and 144,000 who are the first fruits of the 
Jews, the Jewish bridal company, are sealed. 
That is the effect I told you we would see. Now 
this ministry is taken up and continued again in 
these first five verses of this chapter and we will 
see what the effect of that will be by and by, be- 
cause as sure as the others were answered and 
brought results, so will these. So we have the 
second section of the first resurrection, or the 
first section of the tribulation saints gone to glory, 
and they sang their song of salvation, which was 
seven-fold. We have seen the 144,000 elect 
Jews, according to the election of grace, the bridal 



148 



THE GREAT TRIBULATION 



part of the Jewish people sealed and taken care 
of, and presently we shall see them taken up from 
the earth. In Chapter 14, they sing their song 
to the Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Zion. This 
we speak of anticipatively to make the connection 
clear. We have not found their song yet in the 
order in which we are proceeding in the text. 

Now we have had in Chapter 1, the vision of 
the glorified Christ revealed to John on the earth ; 
Chapters 2 and 3, the vision of the church age 
and the messages to the churches ; in Chapters 4 
and 5, the vision of the glorified church in heaven. 
You can now begin to see the logic of these 
things. In Chapters 4 and 5, we have "the open 
door" and "the open book; 31 in Chapters 6 and 7, 
the vision of the earth during the first half of 
tribulation week under the six seals, with a paren- 
thesis in Chapter 7, for the sealing of the elect 
Jews, and the saving and calling out of the first 
section of tribulation saints. This parenthesis 
suspends judgment long enough for God to do 
some heavenly work. 

Now with a few items we can cover a great 
deal of scripture. The seventh seal introduces 
all else that follows because the seals are the major 
things, and more occurs now under the breaking 
of the last or seventh seal than occurred in the 
whole preceding six, because it opens up two 
series, each growing more intense and destruc- 
tive :— the seven trumpets and the seven bowls of 
wrath, (called vials in the old rendering) the 
last forfeited inheritance with the judgment, the 

149 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



inheritance that unbelief has forfeited, the an- 
tithesis of the inheritance that faith has won, and 
if you want to get the charter and feel as though 
you are one of the incorporators of the company 
take Hebrews 11 as your charter and join that 
company and see what kind of dividends it will 
pay in the days of the dissolution of all the cor- 
porations, and of all the combines that earth has 
ever made. We read a little about it in our last 
lecture; we see more of it as we pass on, but 
while that is going into disintegration here on 
the earth, the bride is above, enjoying the first 
fruits of the love that didn't fail, and faith that 
could believe all things. 

And so there is silence in heaven, important 
and crucial, while Jesus ministers. And there 
were given unto them the seven trumpets to 
sound, but before they could sound, another angci 
came and took his stand at the altar, having a 
censer of gold. Who dares take the great censer 
of gold? Who could take it in the earthly tem- 
ple and go right before the golden altar? Could 
any of the under-priests do that? No. The 
high priest of all. Who is doing it now? The 
High Priest of all priests of whom Aaron was 
but a type. Who is that angel? The Angel of 
the Covenant all the way down the ages, of whom 
God said you must not grieve Him or disobey 
Him. "My name is in Him; I can not forgive 
a trespass against Him." He that rejects the Son 
of God hath no forgiveness. It is all you need. 



150 



THE GREAT TRIBULATION 



Everything is vested in the name. How do you 
treat it ? How do you stand related to Him ? 

Jesus, the Name high over all, 

In hell, or earth, or sky; 
Angels and men before Him fall, 

And devils fear and fly. 

Jesus, the Name that charms our fears, 

That bids our sorrows cease, 
Tis music to the sinners' ears, 
'Tis life, and health, and peace. 

So I worship it ; I believe it ; I obey it ; I adore 
it. When all else fails, give me Jesus. Only a 
few are revering that Name on earth. Men are 
trampling it in the dust, defaming it, profaning 
it. I heard it today, the air reverberates with it 
in the distance. The Spirit grieves, but my 
heart starts a little new song, and I say, Jesus 
while they are profaning Thy Name I will exalt 
it. We must equalize it some way. Talk about 
the common songs, we must break out in new 
songs, we must worship Him, and if we do, 
He will employ all our ransomed powers even 
beyond our mental and rational arrangements. 

I am not going to have all tribulation while we 
study this part of the book. I must have some 
shouts of glory. He offers much incense, "that 
He should give it for the prayers of all the saints/' 
That little, old, forgotten washwoman, her 
prayers are in. That old ditch-digger that took 
his dried bread and a piece of cheese and went 
digging all day, his prayers are in. "All saints/' 
I am glad it was put in there. My brother, put 

151 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



in your prayers. Don't say, "Oh, I wish I could 
pray like Brother So-and-so/' but pray on. 

This i? the second set of bowls that is reserved 
in heaven, more than you are aware of. The first 
group was brought out in Chapter 8, and if that 
produced 100,000,000 delivered, tribulation saints 
and 144,000 of the Jewish bridal company, what 
will this do ? So let us keep on ; there is more to 
follow. This book is full of great things. This 
is the Angel of the Covenant, offering as the 
High Priest the prayers of saints, Christ's and 
the believers' intercession. I believe the incense 
is Christ's own intercession. That is the incense 
of heaven, because the high priest compounded 
his own incense. Then from the place of greatest 
intercession falls the greatest judgment on the 
earth. When judgment comes from the cross 
that judgment must be fearful; when judgment 
falls from the place where mercy was offered and 
rejected, that judgment is the most acute; it must 
be. So judgment comes now on the earth be- 
cause heaven has opened up. The prayers of the 
saints have been issued in their final ministry, and 
so when "the angel took the censer and filled it 
from the fire of the altar, and cast it into the 
earth, there were thunderings and lightnings, and 
voices and a great earthquake," or a greater 
earthquake some renderings make it ; greater than 
the one we read of in Chapter 6, which first shook 
the earth ; so it seems there is mercy in judgment 
here. It is as old Habakkuk prayed on his watch 
tower, "In wrath, remember mercy." God never 



152 



THE GREAT TRIBULATION 



forgets that any more than a mother ever forgets 
her love, though her boy may trample upon her, 
she can not forget to love. 



The first trumpet sounds in verse 7. There are 



fuufof these, the last three are more intense, and 
are called woes. We will simply characterize 
them; there is nothing to do but to believe it as 
it is, because it will be that way, and needs no 
explanation or elaboration. It has been in type, 
in small measure, at periods during, the Gentile 
age and even before, but the earth will be full of 
them in that day ; there will be very little mitiga- 
tion; nothing but evil will abound. The first 
trumpet introduces hail of fire, mingled with 
blood, and burns up the third part of the earth, 
trees and green grass; leaves all scorched and 
withered. The second trumpet sounds, and seas, 
fish and ships are destroyed; one-third all the 
way through. That is the ratio remember, so 
we needn't characterize it over and over. The 
third trumpet sounded and all fountains and w.ells 
and rivers of water, one-third dried up; this fire 
is able to do this, dry up the water, dry up a 
third of the seas, the great oceans; that is, one- 
third of the water will evaporate from the intense 
heat, as a pot of boiling water will evaporate, and 
these other things scorch and burn, and affect the 
fountains, the wells and the rivers. 

This third trumpet brings not only the drying 
up of these waters, but the poisoning of them by 



Sounding of Trumpets 




153 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



a deadly, subtle poison called "Wormwood," and 
a third of everything dies, many men die of the 
waters because they are made so bitter and poi- 
sonous. 

The fourth trumpet sounds and the sun, moon 
and stars are obscured ; the light is reduced one- 
third; but later, in the millennium day the light 
of the moon shall be as the sun, and the light of 
the sun seven times. See what sin will do. Sin 
blights and destroys right here in this world. 

Then comes the trumpets of woe in Chapter 9 ; 
the three woe trumpets. 

^ The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from 
heaven, fallen unto the earth : and there was given to 
him the key of the pit of the abyss. Rev. 9: 1. 

Remember, this is the past perfect tense. I 
saw a star that had fallen to the earth. It is the 
old Satan. His name stands for star. He is 
Lucifer, the star of the morning. He does not 
fall here, but John saw that fallen star, and 
there was given to him the key of the pit of the 
abyss so he could open it. 

€J And he opened the pit of the abyss, and there arose 
a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; 
and the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke 
of the pit. Rev. 9 : 2. 

Now I want to tell you that is hell on the earth, 
and in some places they have a pretty good start 
now. May God waken us up to the days we are 
living in. Hell will soon be let loose, but before 
it is entirely let loose I expect to be in heaven with 
Jesus Christ. "Watch and pray," that is the 



154 



THE GREAT TRIBULATION 



condition always, "that you may be counted 
worthy to escape all these things." Luke 21 :36. 

The fifth trumpet now sounds and Satan lets 
loose all the evil spirits and demons from the 
pit of the abyss. They are let loose all at once, 
no restraint; now he is like a dog chained; he 
can only go so far and do so much. The worst 
briber, the worst deceiver, scoundrel, thief, cut- 
throat, burglar, the worst licentious thing that 
crawls in Chicago tonight; God's hand is over 
them all ; Satan can only go so far. That is why 
we ministers say as long as there is life, there is 
hope, but then there will be no restraint. 

*I And out of the smoke there came forth locusts into 
the earth : and unto them was given power, as the 
scorpions of the earth have power. And it was said 
unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the 
earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but 
the men who have not the seal of God on [their] fore- 
heads. And it was given to them that they should not 
kill them, but that they should be tormented five months : 
and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, 
when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men 
seek death, and not find it; and shall desire to die, 
and death fleeth from them. Rev. 9 : 3-6. 

There is no escape from that torture, because 
the devil is torturing his victims in advance. 

^ And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses 
prepared for war; and there were on their heads, as it 
were, crowns like unto gold, and their faces were as the 
faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, 
and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had 
breastplates, as it were, breastplates of iron; and the 
sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of 
many horses rushing to battle. And they have tails 
like unto scorpions, and stings; and their authority in 
their tails was to hurt men five months. They have over 

155 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



them a king, the angel of the abyss, whose name in 
Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath his name 
Apollyon. Rev. 9:7-11. 

Do you recognize him? That is the old devil, 
Satan, the chief angel. He is the highest one in 
rank, the Star of the morning, Lucifer. Oh, 
what torment he causes in the earth ! 

Then comes the sixth trumpet and the sound 
from the altar, the altar of gold which is before 
God, and the voice says to the sixth angel, who 
had the trumpet, . 

^ "Loose the four angels that have been bound at the 
great river Euphrates." And the four angels were 
loosed, that had been prepared for the hour, and day. 
and month, and year, that they should kill the third part 
of men. Rev. 9 : 14, 15. 

You remember they were restrained in Chap- 
ter 7 while the 144,000 were sealed, now they are 
loosed in this chapter. They were restrained un- 
der the sixth seal, but let loose under the sixth 
trumpet. And the number of the armies of the 
horsemen was two myriads of myriads. Now I 
need pause to define and classify here. This 
word "myriad" as we have it in the Greek means 
a million. Now where you have myriads that 
plural means ten, and where it says two myriads 
of myriads it means ten million times ten million. 
You figure that up and see what you have. Over 
there in the bridal company it is said of the angels 
there were myriads of myriads, which means ten 
million times ten million. Of the Bride it says 
there were ten thousand times ten thousand. That 
is very literal, and can not be translated differ- 



156 



THE GREAT TRIBULATION 



ently. So says all Greek authority. Remember 
when I give you these definitions it is the best 
data I can get from all the best Bible students of 
the ages, the Greek translators. I have gone 
through the best lexicons that have been pro- 
duced, so do not think this is my opinion merely, 
for I am not giving you my opinion on any sub- 
ject ; but as this book makes me believe, so I teach. 
Ten thousand times ten thousand is one hundred 
million. That is why I said the first section of 
the bride proper is 100,000,000. Therefore I say 
on the same authority, the first section of the 
tribulation saints taken up in the second chapter 
is a like number, 100,000,000. Now we have 
classified and defined the words ten thousand times 
ten thousand, and myriads of myriads. The four 
living creatures are the first rank ; the twenty-four 
elders the second rank ; the Bride proper the third 
rank; and now we have the 100,000,000 resur- 
rection saints, (first section of tribulation saints) 
which constitute the fourth rank who are the at- 
tendants on the Bride. 

"And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and 
those that sat on them, having breastplates of 
fire;" — these are real horses now, these are not 
the locusts that we have been reading about in' 
the first section that opens up this pandemonium 
under Satan's supervision. I call this the be- 
ginning of pandemonium in the tribulation. Now 
we are down to the sixth angel, sounding the last 
trumpet in the series; because in the seventh 
trumpet another series is opened up. This sixth 



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trumpet is the second of the woe trumpets, the 
fifth was the first "woe trumpet." The seventh 
trumpet is the third and last woe trumpet, and 
introduces the final series of seven last plagues. 
Let me say here that you may think because of 
our seeming literal and vivid description of these 
things that these are physical things, but I want 
to say to you that these are spirit locusts, spirit 
horses, and can be seen only in the spirit. Here 
spiritism with its deceptive, destructive, deadly, 
damnable heresy will get its fill. They will have 
spirit manifestations enough to satisfy all the 
"^-seances they can hold in those days. I come -to 
you tonight with this warning and when I lay 
that down before spiritists they tremble, and if 
there are any here, you will tremble. God will 
give you a vision of it. John saw all these things 
in the Spirit ; not the praeternatural spirit. The 
devil can produce the praeternatural spirit. That 
is why they work such havoc in the earth. Peo- 
ple can not see and do not know what is hurting 
them, and that is why it says they can not escape. 
Oh yes, there will be enough devilism, spiritism, 
and theosophy, and (Anti) Christian Science. 
The devif has to imitate everything, and will by 
and by have a mock resurrection. Spiritism will 
have enough. Theosophy and Christian Science 
will have their fill ; the devil will be the presiding 
genius, and the Antichrist will be the whipper-up, 
and when they want to quit they can not quit. 
But with us the little hallelujahs we have had, 
the few prayers, and the little time of studying 



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THE GREAT TRIBULATION 



and meditation together, we will get our fill of 
that too, but it will only make life unto life, glory 
unto glory. Everything is going to its consum- 
mation, and we too shall go from glory unto 
glory, joyous and more joyous. Peter says we 
are getting a little of it now, and it is "joy un- 
speakable and full of glory," because we are "re- 
ceiving the end of our faith now, even the salva- 
tion of our souls." 

*I The heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; 
and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and 
brimstone. By these three plagues was the third part 
of men killed, by reason of the fire, and the smoke and 
the brimstone. Rev. 9:17-18. 

Hell on earth! God says lots of people's sins 
are going before them into judgment, can not 
wait to destroy their bodies before they get out 
of this world, because the devil claimed them; 
they were his temples ; they were a synagogue of 
Satan and he has a right to his own synagogue. 
Oh brother, sister, if he has any claim on you, 
shake it off in Jesus' Name, and say, "I will be 
God's, in the Name of Jesus Christ and by His 
grace and the power of His Spirit and redeeming 
blood." 

<I For the power of the horses is in their mouth, and in 
their tails : for their tails were like unto serpents, and 
had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of 
the men who were not killed by these plagues, neither 
repented of the works of their hands — Rev. 9 : 19, 20. 

They can find no place of repentance. Esau 
could not find a place to repent concerning his 
birthright ; Judas could not concerning the blood 



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of his Lord, though he sought it with tears. Take 
care that we be not found among those that did 
not repent. 

*J Neither repented of the works of their hands, nor the 
worship of demons, nor the idols of gold and silver, 
brass and stone and wood, which can neither see, nor 
hear, nor walk; nor did they repent of their murders, 
nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of 
their thefts. Rev. 9:20, 21. 

Oh what a category! Listen to these condi- 
tions of the world as we close in the middle of the 
last half of the week. There is pandemonium on 
the earth. Here we have the conditions of the 
world, demon worship, idolatry unrestrained, cor- 
rupt morals to the very depths and dregs, no 
repentance or change, all the sins of the Ante- 
deluvians, of the Sodomites, of Egypt, of the 
Canaanites, and of Israel. These all heaped into 
the bowl of wickedness — all the iniquities of ex- 
treme wickedness and licentiousness of earth, and 
here is where we get the bowls of wrath that we 
shall open up in the next lecture. Their wrath 
filled the bowls. God said to Israel, "Wait until 
the time, for I am waiting." "What are you 
waiting on, Lord? On us?" "No, not entirely. 
I am waiting on you to be ready, but I am wait- 
ing on another set of people to be ready, the cup 
of the Amorites is not yet full." Listen! God 
can not save a soul and bring it into its inherit- 
ance and fulness of blessing until it is ready to 
empty out everything that hinders; neither can 
He enter into judgment with people until they 
have overflowed in their wickedness and iniquity. 



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THE GREAT TRIBULATION 



He waits until they get full; He will wait until 
you have sinned just as long as you want to sin. 
When I find there is no response in a soul I say 
to that sceptic, to that drunkard, or that harlot, 
or to that licentious man, or to that thief or 
gambler : " You go back and go at it worse than 
ever until you are tired, full enough to quit." 
God lets them go on and glut themselves and 
when they are through He will save them, if they 
quit in time to turn, but there's the danger. I 
never try to save a drowning man as long as he 
kicks. "But," you say, "he is going to hell!" 
Well, with some you must wait until they go down 
the third time, and then they won't kick any more. 
Then you can rescue them. Some of these peo- 
ple of awful sin can be saved only after they have 
touched the deepest depths. 



161 



IX 



CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 

HE TENTH chapter opens to us 
the second parenthesis of the book, 
which runs to verse 14 of Chapter 
11, and comes in between the sixth 
and seventh trumpets. Before we 
come to the seventh trumpet a 
new order is introduced, just as 
there was when we came to the 
sixth seal ; and so we go back again and take up 
a new line of description. Nearly every one of 
these different lines ends at the same place and 
with the same purpose, and introduces the same 
things, for each time we go back and take up the 
thought at the beginning, whether it is about the 
Antichrist or Satan himself; whether it is about 
God's ancient people, or whether the line deals 
with the Gentile children of God who are yet on 
the earth — all these lines come out at the same 
place, namely the Epiphany, or return of the Lord 
Jesus to earth. There are five distinct lines we have 
to carry forward : ( 1 ) the line of the Antichrist's 
work, (2) the line of Satan's own operations, 
(3) calling out of 144,000 Jews during Daniel's 
seventieth week, (4) the principal one, which has 
to do with the remainder of God's people who 
were left over, who were not prepared to be mem- 
bers of the Bride, and (5) Babylon. 

Now here in Chapter 10 we have another vision 

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CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



of Jesus. We know this is the Angel of the Cove- 
nant, the Lord Jesus Christ, because of the marks 
that are given. He is called the Mighty Angel, 
the Almighty Messenger; He is clothed with a 
cloud and the rainbow is upon His head; just 
where it was when we saw it before in this book. 
The only two places we see it is here and in Chap- 
ter 4. Now, in this tenth chapter His face is like 
the sun; just as it was on Hermon's Mount in 
the Transfiguration. His feet are as pillars of 
fire, just as John saw them in Chapter 1. No- 
body else could walk on fire but the Son of God, 
the Son of Man. The fire is under His feet now ; 
judgment is beneath Him, and He has a roll in 
His right hand, opened. Who opened it? He 
did, over there in Chapter 5. Oh, it is the Lord 
Jesus. I have many signs by which I know Him, 
and when every other one fails, I know Him by 
the print of the nails in His hands. 

So next we have the little roll, or the little book, 
the roll of the forfeited inheritance, and then come 
the seven thunders, uttering their voices, repre- 
senting the seven voices of God, which you find 
so vividly portrayed in the Twenty-ninth Psalm. 

John is about to write what these thunders 
uttered, but he is told to seal up these things 
(Rev. 10: 4) ; they are not to be written, possibly 
because they are the story of the last plagues, and 
are so awful that God doesn't want the record 
written. I thank God they are not more promi- 
nent. 

Then we have another vision of Jesus ; this 

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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



time He is standing upon the sea and upon the 
earth, and swearing by God the Father, the Cre- 
ator — the three-fold Creator of heaven, earth and 
sea — that there shall no longer be delay, for the 
very last word of encouragement and exhorta- 
tion in the book says, "When I begin to come, I 
will come quickly/' and the church cries, "Amen, 
so come, Lord Jesus." When God has the 
time ripened to start things He always does 
a quick work; but we have to wait for that 
time. Then there will be delay no longer; 
the doom of the devil and of the mystery of in- 
iquity will be speedily accomplished. How much 
of the mystery of God shall then be completed, 
do you ask ? All the Old Testament prophecy 
will be consummated quickly when God begins 
to work in the last part of the tribulation week. 
It requires of us years of study and contempla- 
tion, but it takes God only a few months to exe- 
cute them. They have had a partial fulfilment 
down through history as types, symbols and 
voices, telling us to get ready, but I must con- 
tinue to impress you with the thought that they 
will all come to a great culminative, focal and 
consummative fulness, in awful intensity and 
reality and terribleness, that will make what we 
saw in the last lecture a literal hell on the earth ; 
pandemonium let loose. I am trying to make 
vivid to your ear "what the Spirit is saying to 
the churches." Oh, I do pray, above everything 
else that shall result from these messages, that 
you will honor this wonderful book ; that it shall 



164 



CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



result in your having a more quickened spiritual 
ear to hear what the Spirit is saying to the 
churches. 

As we are told in the Word (II. Pet. 3 : 4) peo- 
ple are saying today that everything continues 
as it was, and that the Lord delays His coming, 
but it is the devil's lie. Everything does not con- 
tinue as it was. Things have changed since I 
was in Chicago a year and a half ago, and the 
last five years have seen wonderful changes since 
the Spirit began to fall in latter rain baptism, and 
God's people do not continue as they were. It is 
the devil's lie to fool the unbelievers. The Lord 
does not delay His coming. He is whipping up 
the horses, and the chariot wheels of His pur- 
pose are making the dust fly as He rides through 
the heavens as the God of Jeshurun, and will 
call us home soon. I call it the hastening time, 
and we are hastening unto the coming of the 
Lord. 

The next item in this chapter is the extended 
prophesying, and he says in summing up things, 
"Go and take the little roll," and when he took it 
he got more than he bargained for. We meet 
many people who want to take some of the 
things of God, just for curiosity or experiment, 
and they get more than they bargained for. He 
first reached out and took the roll, and held it in 
his hand. I suppose he looked into it to see a 
little more about it, and how it felt. The next 
command is, "Take it, and eat it up," and then 
notice what follows. The Lord deceives no- 



165 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



body. When He called His disciples He didn't 
say, "Come, follow me and you will have a good 
time," but, "If any man will come after me, let 
him deny himself, and take up his cross and fol- 
low Me." Matt. 16 : 24. So here He says, "Take 
it, eat it, it will be sweet in your mouth." It is 
delightful when you are getting a new experience, 
but sometimes it becomes mighty bitter in the 
trials that test it. The prophet Ezekiel (Ez. 3 : 8) 
tasted some sweet things from God, but they be- 
came very bitter. The God side of our Christian 
life is very sweet, but just because it is sweet it 
turns to bitterness when we mingle among men. 
It is then that it costs us crosses, trials, mis- 
understandings, tribulation, persecutions ; not 
from God, but from those that oppose us, because 
we have the sweet things of God. Do you under- 
stand it? Will you take it home and apply it 
where you live? 

Jerusalem and Jews 

Chapter 11. This is the Jerusalem chapter. It 
takes up a thought about Jerusalem and the tem- 
ple we have not had in the book before, and 
which will not be met again. He goes back and 
takes up that thought of Jerusalem, the future 
headquarters of the Jewish people and nation, of 
which he says: 

And there was given me a reed like unto a rod, say- 
ing, "Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, 
and those who worship therein. And the court which is 
without the temple cast out, and measure it not ; because 
it was given unto the Gentiles." Rev. 11:1. 2. 

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CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



But there will be Gentiles no more. The Gen- 
tile time is ended; there is no Gentile court in 
the new arrangement of the temple. They will 
all be one people in that day ; there will be no 
Jew or Gentile, no barbarian or Scythian, bond or 
free. Spiritually, there are none of these dis- 
tinctions now, but then there will be none literally, . 
because Christ will have become all and in all. 
You see how far-reaching the good old Gospel is. 
It will come out all right in the end. Lay your 
hand on it and swear by it as Eliezer laid his on 
the thigh of his master, Abraham. It was given 
to the Gentiles, "and the holy city shall they tread 
under foot forty and two months," or three and 
one-half years, the last half of the tribulation 
week, when Antichrist has been revealed, sitting 
in the temple as God. Then the Jews turn on 
Antichrist and their persecution begins. It is of 
this time that the Lord said if He didn't shorten 
those days, no flesh should be saved, so they get 
only half of the time. The first part of the week 
they live in partial harmony, and the Antichrist 
has his great time in the earth, which extends 
through the first six seals of Chapter 6. No Jew 
is taken out of the ranks of Antichrist during this 
time, but when they find him out, Antichrist 
breaks the covenant and then the Lord «has to 
make an interposition and seal these Jews and 
thus protect them, because they are the first fruits 
unto the Lamb, and have to be protected. They 
are the Jewish bride, and do not belong to the 
generality of Jews afterwards. They are the 



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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



first fruits of Judaism just as the Bride is the 
first fruit of the Gentile age. And so Christ has 
a two-fold Bride; these 144,000 Jews do not 
take the same place as the Gentile Bride does, 
but they nevertheless have a higher place than 
the other Jews. 

It would be well to read in this connection the 
fourth chapter of Zachariah. The Antichrist 
treads the holy city under foot forty-two months ; 
thus we see that Jerusalem, which, according to 
prophecy, has been rebuilt during these perilous 
times, and inhabited, is possessed by Antichrist 
and the holy place desecrated. For this he re- 
ceives his greater punishment, as anyone should 
who desecrates the holy places of God. 

The Two Witnesses 

The next item is the two witnesses endowed; 
the word "endowed" means to be given special 
power, sovereign power. These prophesy during 
the same period of three and one-half years, or 
forty-two months, or twelve hundred and sixty 
days, for all these are just the same in length of 
time. Everything here is literal. The day-year 
theory belongs to historic time, but when you get 
here it becomes literal, for in the culmination of 
events, that which was historical and partial be- 
comes literal. It is given in three sets of figures 
through this book, in days, months and years. 
The reckoning here is, of course, three hundred 
and sixty days to the year, the mean time— be- 
tween the lunar and the calendar— which har- 



168 



CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



mortizes best with Bible chronology. There is 
some chronology that must be reckoned by the 
lunar, twenty-eight days to the month, but here 
you have it twelve hundred and sixty days, forty- 
two months, and in another place three and a 
half years. 

*| These are the two olive trees, and the two candle- 
sticks that stand in the presence of the Lord of the 
earth. Rev. 11:4. 

The two olive trees represent the two branches 
of the Jew r ish people, Judah and Israel, and the two 
candlesticks the two branches of the church, the 
true Philadelphia church and the worldly church. 

Now, who are the two witnesses ? The two who 
did the most for Israel, her two great deliverers. 
I believe they are Moses, who delivered her out 
of Egypt and worked great signs and wonders, 
and Elijah, her other great deliverer, after the 
ten tribes had apostatized. Elijah went through 
Ahab's devil-ridden country, called the four hun- 
dred and fifty false prophets to the test, brought 
down the fire of judgment, and consumed those 
false prophets and set Israel at liberty. One 
witnessed to true Israel, the other to false Israel, 
not the Judaistic, but the ten tribes. These two 
die a cruel death in martyrdom, are caught up 
to God, and take the second section of tribula- 
tion saints with them, out of the second half of 
the tribulation week. 

During this time Elijah brings his fire down 
again and consumes the people, just as he did 
the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal. 

169 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



1i And if any one desireth to hurt them, fire proceed- 
eth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies. 
Rev. 11:5. 

Those four hundred and fifty prophets could 
not hurt old Elijah, but a little of the fire of God 
confounded thousands of the enemy. "One shall 
chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand 
to flight." 

"These have authority to shut heaven, that it 
rain not — " Who did that before? Elijah. How 
long? Three and a half years; "during the days 
of their prophecy;" that was the time of Elijah's 
prophecy before, when old Ahab wanted to get 
him and couldn't find him; "and they have au- 
thority over the waters to turn them to blood." 
Who did that down in Egypt? Moses. "And to 
smite the earth with every plague, as often as 
they will." Ten is the full measure, comprehen- 
sive, without limit and means "as often as they 
will." Moses brought the ten plagues on Egypt! 

^ And when they shall have completed their testi- 
mony, the beast that ascended out of the abyss shall 
make war with them, and shall overcome them, and kill 
them. And their dead body shall be in the street of the 
great city, which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, 
where their Lord also was crucified. And some of the 
peoples and tribes and tongues and nations see their dead 
body three days and a half, and do not suffer their dead 
bodies to be put into a sepulchre. And those that dwell 
upon the earth rejoice over them, and make merry; and 
they shall send gifts to one another; because those 
two prophets tormented those that dwell on the earth. 
Rev. 11:7-10. 

But they rejoice too soon. The devil often re- 
joices over us too soon. You cannot tell when 
one of God's children is down whether he is out 



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CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



or not, for he has eternal life in him. "Rejoice 
not against me, O mine enemy : when I fall I shall 
arise." Micah 7 : 8. That will apply even as far 
as resurrection, I suppose. 

Hell claps its hands when a good saint dies, 
but the same Book tells us that they are so ig- 
norant they do not know a good man is only 
delivered from the evil and gone to a blessed re- 
ward. By and by these old sleeping saints will 
come up and meet Christ in glory. 

9 And after the three days and a half the breath of 
life from God entered into them, and they stood upon 
their feet ; and great fear fell upon those who saw them. 
And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto 
them, "Come up hither. ,, And they ascended up to 
heaven in the cloud; and their enemies beheld them. 
And in that, hour was there a great earthquake, and the 
tenth of the city fell, and in the earthquake were killed 
seven thousand names of men. And the rest was 
affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven. Rev. 
11:11-13. 

This is the end of the second parenthesis. 

^ The second woe is past ; behold the third woe cometh 
speedily. Rev. 11 : 14. 



The Seventh Trumpet 

Here the seventh angel sounds the seventh 
trumpet, and now the final order is introduced. 
Now is sung the song of power, the fourth song 
in the book: 

^ The sovereignty of the world became the sovereignty 
of our Lord and of His Christ; and He shall reign 
forever and ever. Rev. 11 : IS. 

There is a new tone of power in that song; 

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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



something that we have not had before. It is the 
song of great glory. 

The twenty- four elders sit on their own thrones 
in the presence of God; close to these are the 
second rank people who fall on their faces, and 
worship God, saying: 

^ We give thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, 
the one who is, and who was ; because Thou hast taken 
Thy great power, and didst reign. And the nations were 
angered, and Thy wrath came, and the time of the dead, 
to be judged, and to give the reward unto Thy servants 
the prophets, and to the saints, and those who fear Thy 
name, the small and the great; and to destroy those 
who destroy the earth. Rev. 11 : 17, 18. 

The scripture just read indicates the prepara- 
tion for the battle of Armagedon and introduces 
the millennium. There is no lapse of time; we 
have pushed one line of description up to the 
end, and now go back and get another. We 
have to take time to tell these, but he brings each 
one of them up to that point where Christ will 
come back and introduce the millennium. The 
tribulation extends not only to the first but also 
to the second half of the week, from parousia to 
epiphany; from the catching up of the Bride by 
Christ until she comes back with Him. You 
escape all these things that are coming to pass 
on the earth, if you belong to the Bride, for at 
that time you shall stand with the Son of Man. 
(Luke 21 : 36.) 

Cfl And the temple of God which is in heaven was 
opened, and there was seen the ark of His covenant in 
His temple, and there were lightnings, and voices, and 
thunderings, and earthquake, and great hail. Rev. 11 : 19. 



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CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



This is the third time we have read that in this 
book. Things are being finished up. 

The Woman and Man-Child 

Now we come to the great sign that was seen 
in heaven, the sign of the woman clothed with 
the sun, and the moon under her feet, because 
the Hebrew people are now to be clothed with 
the sun. The moon represents the law and the 
sun the Gospel. It is the reflection of grace back 
upon law, and the law pointing forward as a 
school-master to bring us to Christ. The moon is 
under her feet, and she is clothed with the sun. 
She is now getting back to Christ, the Sun of 
Righteousness; she is going to believe in Him, 
and the shadow, the light of the moon — law and 
prophecy— is under her feet. She stands on that. 

<l And upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and 
being with child, she crieth out, travailing and pained to 
be delivered. Rev. 12 : 1, 2. 

She is going to bring forth the man-child, which 
is the 144,000 Jewish Bride for the Lamb. I 
know this has been called the Christian church, 
the Gentile Bride, but no man has ever yet been 
able to harmonize these chapters under any other 
hypothesis than I am giving you now. This is 
the Jewish people. Now we see that great sign, 
the Jewish people, coming to their place again in 
the middle of the week, in which they discover 
the Antichrist and reject him. Judah comes to 
her true place and accepts the Lord Jesus Christ 
as the true Messiah. Antichrist breaks his cove- 



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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



nant with the Jews, as Daniel says, in the midst 

of the week, and then the Jews accept Christ. 

These things dove-tail perfectly. 

^ And there was seen another wonder in heaven; and 
behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten 
horns, and upon his heads seven diadems (imitating 
Christ). And his tail draweth the third part of the stars 
of heaven, and did cast them to the earth; and the 
dragon stood before the woman who was about to be 
delivered; that he might devour her child when she 
had brought it forth. And she brought forth a man- 
child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: 
and her child was caught unto God and unto His throne. 
Rev. 12:3-5. 

This child is the 144,000 that were sealed and 
protected in Chapter 7, at the beginning of the 
week, and caught up a little later on (Chapter 14) 
with the first section of tribulation saints. 

Now, these are the living portion of the Jewish 
people, they do not die. They are redeemed. 
That word "redeemed" is physical redemption ; 
bought out, saved out of the slaughter place; 
the place where men will be slaughtered as ani- 
mals for the market. The idea in the Greek is 
that some one buys them up and saves them ; they 
are redeemed from among men, the first fruits 
unto the Lamb. The woman, the mother of 
them, is the Judaistic Jews that still adhere to the 
old form of the law. There are many of them in 
the world today, and they are gaining every day. 
I recently attended their Feast of Tabernacles in 
Columbus, and their day of atonement, in Day- 
ton. I have been particularly examining into these 
things this year, so I went among the Jews and 
went through their feasts with them. I had oppor- 



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CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



tunity to talk to some of them and to show them 
the spiritual side of all those things. They would 
stand and let me talk to them, and were amazed 
and said, "You are a Jew. You studied to be a 
Rabbi, didn't you ?" "Yes, but not a Jewish Rab- 
bi." "Why/' they said, "was your father a Jew?" 
"Yes, a spiritual one." My father was known as 
a walking Bible cyclopaedia, and the people said 
he knew more about the Bible than any other man 
in our county. You can transmit faith to your chil- 
dren just as well as you transmit carnality. He 
transmitted a love for the Bible to me, and faith 
in it. I do not take much credit, because I had 
that love for God's Word from my infancy. 
When a child I'd rather sit on my mother's knee 
and hear her read stories from the Bible than 
anything else in the world. Sometimes they'd 
get the old almanac, but I'd say, "Mother, read 
me a Bible story." Thank God for a father that 
gave me a love for the Bible, and a mother that 
prayed me through to God. 

^ There was war in heaven : Michael and his angels — 
to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and 
his angels; and they prevailed not; neither was their 
place found any more in heaven. Rev. 12 : 7, 8. 

That is the second heaven where he is now 
prince of the power of the air. 

^ And the great dragon was cast out, the old serpent, 
that is called the Devil, and Satan, who deceiveth the 
whole world : he was cast out into the earth, and his 
angels were cast out with him. Rev. 12:9. 

He gets the complement of his name here, the 
four-fold name, and as we saw in the last lecture, 



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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



he was given the key of the bottomless pit, to 
let them all out on the earth. These diabolical 
things run parallel with what I have just been 
telling you, but you cannot tell the two stories at 
the same time, in the same breath; so this is 
parenthetic, the third great parenthesis. This one 
goes back and takes up the Jewish thread. 

And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, "Now is 
come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of 
our God, and the authority of His Christ." Rev. 12 : 10. 

Why? Because the Jew is brought back into 
his true place, and that completes the kingdom of 
God. You cannot complete it by the Gentile line 
alone, nor by the Jewish line alone, but when Jew 
and Gentile are one in Christ, then you will see 
it come to pass. Why ? 

^ Because the accuser of our brethren (the Jews) was 
cast out, who accused them before our God day and 
night. Rev. 12:10. 

The devil hates Gentiles when they become 
Christians, but he has a special and inveterate 
hatred of the Jews, because he knows the day 
they turn to God, the kingdom is Christ's forever. 
He remembers that Abraham was called to head 
the new race; he remembers that Moses was 
called to deliver them from bondage and organ- 
ize them into a nation. They are a type of Moses, 
and Egypt is a type of the world. He remembers 
Joshua, who led them over into Canaan, displacing 
the Hittites, the Canaanites, etc.; in short, all 
the "ites" that ever came out of hell. Satan re- 
members Gideon and Samuel, and David who 



176 



CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



put all the nations under tribute and used the 
tribute to build the temple of God. He remem- 
bers all the prophets that brought forth the Word 
of God and turned the people back to Him, time 
and again. He knows how often he got Israel 
to apostatize, and if it had not been for the grace 
of the Lord Jesus Christ he would have com- 
pleted their ruin; but they held on to the "elec- 
tion of grace," which the devil himself cannot 
stop. For God is there with his grafting-wax of 
grace, and with the new buds of faith and the split- 
ax of His truth, He is going to put them back 
into the olive tree again. Satan knows when that 
day is due, and so he says, "This is our last 
battle." Now, Michael is the captain-general of 
the hosts of God for Israel's sake. He is a won- 
derful angel. I am going to take the hand of 
that warrior spirit and kiss it when I see him in 
that day, and then I shall want to go over and 
sit down beside Gabriel and have him tell me one 
of those wonderful spiritual stories of his which 
will illuminate my soul. 

They overcame him who accused these breth- 
ren, the 144,000, by the blood of the Lamb, and 
because of the word of their testimony. They 
finally got to the blood of the Lamb, and when 
that strikes a Jew he is a mighty factor. You 
get a real Jew genuinely converted, and you have 
a man on fire for God. 

"They loved not their life even unto death," 
willing to be killed. Nobody will die quicker for 

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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



his religion than a Jew. Remember that most of 
the early martyrs were Jews. 

"Woe to the earth and to the sea ! because the devil 
came down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that 
he hath but a short time." And when the dragon saw 
that he was cast into the earth, he persecuted the woman 
who brought forth the man-child. And there was given 
to the woman the two wings of the great eagle, that she 
might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she 
is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 
Rev. 12:12-14. 

This is three and a half years literally, and this 
place is a literal, earthly place and which is no 
doubt, indicated by certain prophecies. I believe 
it will be on a peninsula in the Persian Gulf that 
has been formed there out of sand and soil, 
brought down by the great river from the moun- 
tain ranges back in Asia. She flees there, but the 
serpent casts out of his mouth a great river, and 
causes the river to have a flood that he might 
sweep her away; but this open sand just swallows 
up the water, and the woman is protected, for the 
earth helped the woman and swallowed up the 
flood. She is away out on that peninsula that the 
God of nature has prepared for that time. People 
who wonder now what it will be used for will no 
doubt see in due time. 

"And the dragon was wroth with the woman" — 
could not do anything with her, and he comes to 
make war with her seed, the reformed Jews. The 
reformed Jew is the apostate Jew today, who is 
neither one thing nor the other. Like the Laodi- 
cean church, he is neither hot nor cold; he has 
neither law nor grace. 



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CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



The woman has brought forth her man-child, 
the Jewish Bride, under the Gospel, before the 
millennium comes, in the last week of the seventy 
years of Daniel's prophecy. They accept Christ 
during their own time, just like the Gentiles ac- 
cept Him in their Gentile parenthesis. The 
dragon "went to make war with the rest of her 
seed, who keep the commandments of God, and 
have the testimony of Jesus." They are waken- 
ing up now and getting ready, for prophecy de- 
clares "a nation will be born in a day." They 
are turning to the commandments of God and to 
the testimony of Jesus. 

Now the events described in Chapter 12 occur 
properly at the sounding of the sixth trumpet, 
when the four angels are loosed, which were held 
back in Chapter 7 for the sealing and protection 
of these 144,000 virgin Jews, that we see go up 
now, whose position we shall see in Chapter 14. 
This is the place it occupies and the only place it 
harmonizes in the book. He goes back to that 
point and takes up this Jewish story at the loos- 
ing of those angels. Psalm 45 and Matt. 24, 
where they get ready to meet the Bridegroom, 
bear on this point. 

Chapter 9:13 is the second interposition, just 
as the first is in Chapter 7, thus making Chapters 
12 and 14 parenthesis for the translation of the 
144,000, and giving them their position. In 
this way they escape the army of the dragon. 



179 



/ 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 

Antichrist and False Prophet 

Now Chapter 13 is devoted to Antichrist and 

the false prophet. He goes back now and brings 

up a picture of him in the last half of the week. 

We found him in the first half of the week in 

Chapter 6, imitating Jesus. He is no longer a 

noble-bearing man, with a crown, a bow and a 

sword, sitting on a white horse antl looking like 

a brave, conquering general, but now he is a 

real beastly being. 

And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having 
ten horns and seven heads, and upon his horns ten diad- 
ems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. Rev. 13 : 1. 

Now he fulfils the latter part of Daniel's vision 
in the awful viciousness of the beast, destructive, 
rampant, violent, and on his head ten crowns, 
an imitation, Daniel's vision tells us, having names 
of blasphemy on him, for he has all the religious 
aspect of the old church of Rome with him. 

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, 
and his feet as those of a bear, and his mouth as the 
mouth of a lion. Rev. 13:2. 

The devil gives to him all his own power now ; 
he becomes just like the devil, for he is his son, 
just as Jesus Christ is like God because He is His 
Son. He is the son of Apollyon. He has been 
found out and rejected by the Jews, now he shows 
what he really is ; no longer a wolf in lamb's 
clothing but a ravenous wolf. Satan gives to him 
his power, his throne and his great authority. 

€f And T saw one of his heads as it were slain to death ; 
and his deadly wound was healed; and all the earth 
was astonished after the beast. Rev. 13 : 3. 

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CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



This is a mock resurrection, dead and alive 
again, typified historically by the blasphemous 
church of Rome. She, too, had a deadly wound 
and was struck to death in 1879 under Garibaldi 
when the temporal power of the pope was taken 
away. But very shortly she will be healed, and 
the temporal power will come back to Rome, and 
Antichrist will get a big slice in the bargain. 

"And they worshipped the dragon/' Now we 
are getting the Antichrist's description. We had 
the devil's in the last lecture, the Jews' in the 
forepart of this lecture, and now we are getting 
the Antichrist's. Pure devil worship is in the 
future. 

Because he gave the authority unto the beast : and 
they worshipped the beast, saying, "Who is like unto 
the beast? and who is able to make war with him?" And 
there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things 
and blasphemies; and authority was given unto him to 
act forty and two months (same period again, the last 
half of the week, three and a half years). And he 
opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blas- 
pheme His name, and His tabernacle. Rev. 13 : 4-6. 

The Tabernacle or Temple rebuilt at Jerusalem, 
which is to be built in perilous times, may be be- 
gun before we are caught away, for the Free Ma- 
sons are getting permission of all the rulers of the 
world, and are already gathering together material 
to build the temple. The Free Masons will build it ; 
they stand between the church and the Jews as a 
mixed multitude of mystery. They have no Christ 
and are a greater hindrance to the church of the 
living God than any other organization in Protes- 
tantism. I said that in Louisville, Ky., once, and a 



181 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



man sitting back in the audience put his hand in 
his hip pocket, and drew out his pistol. He told me 
afterwards that he said to himself that night, 
"That man will die before he gets out of this 
church," but at the close of my message he was 
amongst the first to kneel at the altar. He gave 
his pistol to me and his heart to God. He was 
a hot-blooded Kentuckian, a Free Mason. He 
left his Free Masonry and became a free man 
in Christ Jesus. I was glad to initiate a man 
out of bondage into freedom, out of darkness into 
the marvelous light of God. 

They will build the temple but never inhabit 
it. They are great believers in the temple; they 
want to get back to the Solomonic order of things, 
but you cannot get back there. You must go to 
Christ. Solomon was a type of Christ in his 
kingdom glory only. 

fl[ And it was given unto him to make war with the 
saints, and to overcome them; and there was given 
unto him authority over every tribe, and people, and 
tongue, and nation. Rev. 13 : 7. 

That is the second half of the week in which 
he has this dominating power. 

<I And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, 
— he whose name hath not been written, from the foun- 
dation of the world, in the book of life of the Lamb 
slain. If anyone hath an ear, let him hear. If anyone 
be for captivity, he goeth away; if anyone will kill 
with the sword, with the sword must he be killed. Here 
is the endurance and the faith of the saints. Rev. 
13:8-10. 

This is the second section of the tribulation 
saints, and in Chapter 14 : 12 we meet them again. 



182 



CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



€J And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. 
Rev. 13:11. 

This is item four in this chapter. The first item 
is the Antichrist, second item was his power dur- 
ing the last half of the week, the third is the war 
with the saints, at which war there are some to 
be brought up as second section tribulation saints, 
and the fourth item is the false prophet. 

<J He exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in 
his presence, and he causeth the earth and those who 
dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly 
wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so 
that he maketh even fire to come down from heaven on 
the earth in the sight of men; and he deceiveth those 
that dwell on the earth in consequence of the wonders, 
which were given to him to do in the presence of the 
beast; saying to those who dwell on the earth, that 
they should make an image to the beast. Rev. 13 : 12-14. 

This is a special work so that they can worship 
the Antichrist in any part of the earth by means 
of images, wholesale antichristian idolatry. Why ? 
Because a part of the Antichrist power comes from 
the church of Rome and so runs into this line. 
There is already a wonderfully profitable business 
in these works of imagery, and they naturally give 
the Antichrist the benefit of the whole thing, as 
we read in Chapters 17 and 18, where we get 
that section of Babylon fully described. 

<J And it was given to him to give breath unto the 
image of the beast. Rev. 13 : 15. 

This is another phase of the resurrection, which 
you have in three places, a three-fold phase of 
resurrection : 



183 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



Cj That the image of the beast should both speak, and 
cause that whosoever would not worship the image of 
the beast should be killed. Rev. 13 : 15. 

Then you come to item five, the seal of the 
Antichrist. Just as God has His true seal on the 
Gentile Bride, and the literal Bride from the Jews, 
so the Antichrist has a seal on his people. Every- 
body must come under a seal; great, rich, poor, 
free, bond ; everybody must receive the mark 
on their right hand or on their foreheads. 

^ That no one be able to buy or sell, save he that hath 
the mark, the name of the beast or the number of his 
name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understand- 
ing count the number of the beast: for it is the num- 
ber of a man ; and his number is 666. Rev. 13 : 17, 18. 

The 144,000 
Now just some brief words on Chapter 14. 
Here we have the fifth song, the redemption song, 
sung by the 144,000, "having His name (the 
Lamb's) and His Father's name written on their 
foreheads," which identifies them as all Jews. 
They have the name of God, the name of Jehovah, 
but they must have the name of Christ also to 
make them His. These have taken His name 
also, and so it is very significant here that these 
144,000 have His name and His Father's name 
written on their foreheads. 

^ And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of 
many waters, and as a voice of great thunder: and the 
voice which I heard was as that of harpers harping 
with their harps: and they sing (as it were) a new 
song in the presence of the throne, and in the presence 
of the four living creatures and the elders : and no 
one was able to learn the song but the hundred forty 
and four thousand, who have been redeemed from the 



184 



CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



earth. These are those who were not defiled with 
women; for they are virgins, those who follow the 
Lamb whithersoever He goeth: these were redeemed 
from men, a first-fruit to God and to the Lamb. Rev. 
14:2-4. 

Earthly redemption; they have now come to 
God through Christ, and therefore they are re- 
deemed. They are from the earth, for the Jews' 
portion of inheritance is an earthly one. This 
is full of the description of the Jewish bride of 
Christ. These follow Him wherever He goes, 
and hence are attendants. They constitute a part 
of the first section of tribulation saints. 

€J And in their mouth was found no falsehood : for they 
are without blemish. Rev. 14 : 5. 

The Antichrist tried to make them deny the 
Lord, but they would not lie. They won't for- 
swear; they are true. They come out true for 
Christ, for they are without blemish. 

Then comes the first fruit company which I 
read about before, and which is this man-child 
who sheperdizes the nation. Here comes the be- 
ginning of the Jewish evangelizing, even before 
the millennium begins, because an angel goes out, 
the angel of the Jewish covenant. 

And T saw another angel flying in the mid-heaven, 
having the everlasting Gospel to preach unto those that 
dwell on the earth, and unto every nation, and tribe, 
and tongue, and people, — saying with a loud voice, "Fear 
God, and give glory to Him." Rev. 14:6, 7. 

Now, that has been done through the Gentile 
age, but that is only the Gentile ministry; the 
great evangelism has not begun yet in the world. 



185 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



The Jew is to be the great evangelizer, and while 
the Jew introduced the Gospel, yet that was only 
historic and partial fulfilment. 

^ "Fear God, and give glory to Him : because the hour 
of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made 
the heaven, and the earth, and sea, and fountains of 
water." Rev. 14:7. 

That is the beginning of the evangelism, and 
who are the starters? The first-fruits of the 
bride, the Jewish bride. It is said over in Chap- 
ter 12 that the man-child would begin to rule the 
nations with a rod of iron. That is a compulsory 
judgment. Take your choice now, but it will be 
a rod of iron in that day. 

They are the evangelizers of the nations ; they 
believe on Christ during the first half of the tribu- 
lation, and are saved and know how to evangelize. 

And another, a second angel, followed, saying, "Fall- 
en, fallen is Babylon the great." Rev. 14 : 8. 

This great Babylon is the whole system under 
Antichrist, and includes all modern systems, The- 
osophy, Spiritism, Christian Science, and all the 
isms you ever heard of outside of Christ. The 
fall of Babylon the great includes them all. 

Babylon the great, Babylon the gilded, just a 
sham, but she is fallen; she has made all the 
nations drink of the wine of her fornication. 
What is it? Wrath. We drink the wine of the 
kingdom of God in the Spirit, and what does it 
turn to ? Wrath ? No ; glory. That is the dif- 
ference. What makes this wrath? The sins of 
the people. What makes this glory? Our faith 



186 



CONVERGING LINES OF VISION 



and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
Word says that to him that worketh righteousness 
it is glory, but to him that doeth it not, indigna- 
tion and wrath. Rom. 2:7, 8. 

Then the third angel followed them. Now, if 
anyone worships the beast he will suffer, but if 
any worship the Lord, he will be rewarded. 

^ Here is the endurance of the saints ; — here are those 
that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of 
Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Write, 
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from hence- 
forth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that they should rest from 
their labours; for their works do follow them." Rev. 
14:12, 13. 

That is the second section of tribulation saints, 
being put to death under the Antichrist's awful 
reign of terror. Isaiah 57 : 1 comes in good here. 

Here the epiphany is again referred to in this 
chain of description which runs through the Anti- 
christ regime. 

<J And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and upon the 
cloud I saw one sitting like unto the Son of Man — having 
on His head a crown of gold, and in His hand a sharp 
sickle. Rev. 14 : 14. 

Who is this? The Lord Jesus Christ. 

fl And another angel came out of the temple, crying 
with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, "Thrust 
in thy sickle and reap; because the time to reap is 
come; because the harvest of the earth is ripened." 
Rev. 14:15. 

The cup of the Amorites is full, and He waits 
until the cup of the world is full, and the clusters 
of sin are ready for the wine press of the wrath 
of God. Jesus trod it for us. If we accept Him 



187 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



we shall never have to have any wine press of 
the wrath of God, but if we do not, we shall cer- 
tainly get into it. If you take Him, He will de- 
liver you from it. 

And another angel came out of the temple which is 
in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another 
angel came out from the altar, who hath authority over 
fire; and he cried with a loud voice to him that had the 
sickle, saying, "Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather 
the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes 
are fully ripened. ,, And the angel thrust in his sickle 
into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and 
cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and 
blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse 
bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred 
furlongs. Rev. 14:17-20. 

That is at least three feet deep ; some make it 
four feet. A war horse charger holds his head 
pretty high. What are these rivers of blood? 
How deep will they be? how long? By the 
space of sixteen hundred furlongs, two hundred 
miles. The whole length of Palestine will be a 
river of blood, four feet deep, from the awful 
battle of Armagedon, at the epiphany of the Lord 
Jesus Christ in the beginning of the millennium, 
which is described in Chapter 20. We have run 
up to this again with this chain of the Antichrist, 
and there I close. 



188 



X 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT. 

HE FIFTEENTH chapter of the 

book and first verse, says: "And 

I saw another sign in heaven/' 

Now we are going back again to 

take up a different line, so we may 

expect something new. 

And I saw another sign in heaven, 
great and marvellous, seven angels hav- 
ing the seven last plagues ; because in 
them was completed the wrath of God. Rev. 15 :1. 

I wish this was happening tonight so that the 
wrath of God might be ended, but the most fear- 
ful part is yet to come, for these things we are 
speaking of are yet future, as indeed most of 
this book is. 

On the Sea of Glass. 

<| And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with 
fire, and those that had gotten the victory from the 
beast, and from his image, and from the number of his 
name, standing on the sea of glass, having the harps 
of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant 
of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, "Great and 
marvellous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty: 
righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou King of the 
nations. Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy 
name? because Thou only art holy; because all the 
nations shall come and worship in Thy presence; 
because Thy judgments were manifested. ,, And after 
these things I saw, and the temple of the tabernacle 
of the testimony in heaven was opened: and the seven 
angels who had the seven plagues, came out of the 
temple, clothed in pure bright stone, and girded about 
their breasts with girdles of gold. And one of the 
four living creatures gave unto the seven angels seven 
bowls of gold, full of the wrath of GodL who liveth 




189 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



forever and ever. And the temple was rilled with smoke 
from the glory of God, and from His power; and no 
one was able to enter into the temple, till the seven 
plagues of the seven angels were completed. Rev. 
15 :2-8. 

This will introduce all the details of the fol- 
lowing three chapters. The seven angels with 
the seven plagues, received the seven golden 
bowls of the wrath of God, erroneously trans- 
lated vials in the old version. The first item we 
are introduced to here, after the seven angels 
holding the seven last plagues, is this sea of glass 
mingled with fire, and those who have gotten the 
victory from, not over, the beast, just as David 
took his lamb from the jaws of the lion. This 
victory is gotten from the beast, just as we take 
souls now out of the hands, that is from the 
devil. It is not getting victory over, but from; 
taking something from him he already has, or 
thinks he has. That is the way God gets souls 
these days, souls that are in the devil's clutches; 
souls that are in the devil's teeth already are 
snatched as brands from the burning. Their 
bodies cannot be saved; their physical natures 
have gone so far into sin that we have to despise 
the garments spotted by the flesh; but we want 
souls and we can get them even when the devil 
has the bodies. You can even then have the spirit 
saved "so as by fire," like the man in Corinthians, 
whose body was given over by Paul "to Satan 
for the destruction of the flesh that his spirit 
might be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." 
The longer some people live in the body under 



190 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



the dominion of Satan, the worse it is for their 
souls; the quicker they die the more probable 
it is they may get their spirit saved. 

But, to resume, these had gotten the victory 
from the beast and constitute the second section 
of the tribulation saints, the third section of the 
first resurrection. We have four sections now 
beside the prime rank of the four living creatures 
and twenty-four elders. We had the Bride in 
Chapters 4 and 5, 100,000,000; we had the 
144,000 in Chapter 7 sealed for their protection, 
caught up in Chapter 12, and meeting with Jesus 
at His epiphany in Chapter 14. So we see these 
Jezvish saints in three aspects ; in their sealing, in 
their translation and in their ministry and song 
with Christ in His epiphany, when they become 
the leaders of the great evangelizers of the 
millennium. 

Then we have the third class in Chapter 7, the 
first section of tribulation saints, second section 
of the first resurrection, a great company. We 
had them mentioned before in Chapter 6, crying 
underneath the altar where they were slain and 
where they were told to wait until the rest were 
slain in the first half of the week. 

Now we are introduced to the fourth com- 
pany, which is the second section of tribulation 
saints. These come up out of the intensified part 
of tribulation called, "the tribulation, the great" 
the latter half of the week. They had to get the 
victory from the beast, and went through severer 
trials. They did not get ready during the first 

191 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



half of the week; they were not so far in grace, 
but after the Bride had gone they awakened 
to the fact and stood out for God and truth and 
suffered. This is that company; we have had 
them mentioned before, twice, where they were 
being sealed and prepared for the final resurrec- 
tion and translation at this point. You can go 
back and take up that part of the story concern- 
ing them. In Chapter 13:10 you have them first 
mentioned, and again in Chapter 14:12, "Here 
is the endurance of the saints : — here are those 
that keep the commandments of God, and the 
faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven 
saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in 
the Lord V " In death they got victory over the 
Antichrist. It looked as though those Christians 
were all defeated that were slain in the days of 
Pagan and Papal Rome under the inquisition, 
but every one that died like old Polycarp, testify- 
ing for Christ, got the victory from the beast, and 
they could say through the power of Christ, as 
we read in I. Cor. 15, "O death, where is thy 
sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The 
sting of death is sin. The strength of sin is the 
law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the 
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." That 
is a good song for living people that are not put 
to death, but it is a still better one when you are 
dying a martyr for Jesus' sake, even as some of 
the missionaries have had to do recently. 

This is that company. They came up and got 
the victory from the beast, from his image. They 

192 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



would not worship him; they are like the three 
Hebrew children, who would not bow down to 
the old king's image, and whom he cast into the 
fire. But did he get any victory? No, they got 
the victory. So did Daniel when they put him in* 
the lions' den. He got the victory over the lion's 
mouths, and used their heaving bosoms for a pil- 
low. 

They had gotten the victory from the "number 
of his name/' from the "mark of his blasphemy," 
— they would not have it, would not carry it 
around. They are standing now on this sea of 
glass ; they have the harps of God. The first sec- 
tion of tribulation saints had palms, but these are 
the harpers, these went through the greater trial ; 
they were not ready so soon and did not get as 
high a rank. The others are the palm-bearers 
who go before the Bride, just as when Jesus en- 
tered Jerusalem; but these are the great orches- 
tra, the harpers. We shall have an orchestra 
there; all the pieces that ever were in a band. 
Ah! we are going to have a band-wagon of ulti- 
mate selection, triumph and glory. There will be 
a political aspect to this kingdom by and by ; not 
much now. I would not seek any office now if 
I were you, for there will be an office for us by 
and by with no political intrigue attached to it. 

They are on the sea of glass mingled with fire. 
Why couldn't we have it without being mingled 
with fire, as we had for the Bride in Chapter 4? 
Because these come up through the greater, 
through the more fiery trials ; so always, they who 

193 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



come up through little have to be tested out. But 
this transparency of soul, this purity of life, this 
openness of character, this visibility of all there 
is in us — nothing but heat could make this. It 
^requires hot fire to make glass. It is made out 
of hard things, and you must expect them if you 
are going to have a transparent soul, a lustrous 
spirit, a frank, open life and pure character. 

Let me give you a little Bible reading on this : 
I. Pet. 1:7; I. Pet. 4 : 12, 13 ; I. Cor. 3:13, 14. 
First, your faith is to be tried (I. Pet. 1:7), your 
ability to trust God all the time. Your faith must 
be tried, and it must possess three qualities, 
praise, honor and glory. God won't put honor 
on any unless they praise Him, and God won't 
put glory on any thing He cannot honor. I wish 
you would get the tremendous importance of 
these words. Your faith must be tried; then 
when you praise Him He will put some honor on 
you, and people will say, "Look how God can 
trust that man or woman." He puts honor on 
that faith, and where He can put honor on the 
faith, He will glorify it. When? Now, and at 
the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ, at the 
revelation of His glory. 

Second, you are to be tried. I. Pet. 4: 12, 13. 
This is not the fiery trial of your faith now ; this 
second trial is upon your character, your virtue, 
your life, your spirit and patience. Your charac- 
ter must be tried, of what kind of fibre you are, 
what kind of spiritual quality, whether you are 
a piece of second-growth hickory or only a bit 

194 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



of basswood. What is the matter with basswood? 
It works nice, the lathes can be run nearly three 
times as long turning out basswood, as when 
working on hickory, but God cannot make saints 
out of basswood people. People say, "I was 
made a saint in twenty-four hours/' No, you 
were not. It takes a long time to grow good 
hickory. You have to grow in grace. You can 
jump into grace by faith inside of twenty-four 
minutes, but that won't make a saint out of you ; 
that will save you and start you in holiness, but 
you have to grow in grace when you are a saint, 
and keep growing and never stop, or there is 
something the matter with your sainthood. 

Third, your work must be tried. I. Cor. 3:13, 
14. Your service must be tried by fire. When 
your faith has been tried you think you are all 
through, but some more trials come on and you 
haven't spiritual illumination to know the differ- 
ence, and think your faith is being tried again. 
If you understood God you could see whether 
He was trying your faith, or character, or works, 
and it would help you to stand. It is the con- 
fusion that the enemy brings upon God's peo- 
ple that weakens them, because they do not 
know their text book well enough. Inspiration 
won't take you through these things. Many 
people have as much inspiration as I have, and 
yet they get into all sorts of things. You need 
your soul, your mind, illuminated. 

These people stood on the sea of glass mingled 
with fire. Here they sing the song of Moses and 

195 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



the song of the Lamb — law and grace ; instruction 

and redemption; this is the victory song, the sixth 

song in the book. Here are the words, at least 

a verse and the chorus : 

"Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God 
the Almighty: righteous and true are Thy ways, Thou 
King of the nations." Rev. 15:3. 

They saw His way was perfect ; all this visita- 
tion of judgment on the earth was righteous and 
true, and His way perfect, as David declared in 
his day. And then comes the chorus: 

$ "Who shall not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy 
name? because Thou only art holy: because all the 
nations shall come and worship in Thy presence; be- 
cause Thy judgments were manifested." Rev. 15:4. 

This was the song and the chorus; possibly 
they sang it over and over again. They had lived 
through the tribulation time, and here is their 
testimony. Nobody could sing that song who 
hadn't been through it. Seven attributes of God 
are named here, seven aspects of His nature in 
this song of victory. 

This is the second section of tribulation saints 
who are gone up; another great company in 
glory. Then the temple is opened in heaven 
(Verses 5 and 6), and here we have the basis of 
the final judgment, which is to be, not under law, 
but under grace. Paul says, "God shall judge 
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to 
my Gospel." Rom. 2:16. Jesus Christ cannot 
judge people according to law. He said so Him- 
self. He judges by His grace ; as to whether they 
have accepted or rejected that saving grace. 

196 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



Therefore this word of the testimony becomes 
the basis of judgment in this respect for just as 
Moses under law put the ark of testimony in the 
tabernacle on earth, so Jesus has put the Gospel 
testimony in the tabernacle in heaven. He has 
gone up to finish His work, and says, "I judge 
no man; I have not come to judge men, but to 
save them/' He also tells us in John 12 :47, 48, 
that His Word will judge us at the last day. 

The Bowls of Wrath. 

So the seven bowls are opened up, and the first 
one is the judgment of the botch of Egypt. Here 
are some of the Egyptian plagues following. 
These begin in the last half of the week while 
Moses and Elijah are witnessing, as told in Chap- 
ter 11. This is another side of the story; another 
thread is taken up and run through. Here are 
some of the plagues of Egypt, the noisome and 
grievous sore. God has sealed and protected His 
people, but Antichrist's seal exposes to destruc- 
tion. Be careful whose mark you have, whether 
the mark of God's protection and love, or the 
mark of the beast. 

The second bowl is poured out and all the sea 
is turned into blood (another of the plagues of 
Egypt), and every living soul died that was in 
the sea. And the third bowl is poured out and 
there is blood in all the rivers and the fountains 
of waters. All this because they have shed the 
blood of the saints — because they rejected God. 

The fourth judgment is poured out on the sun, 

197 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



and men are scorched as by fire, and still they 
blaspheme the name of God, still they repent not 
to give Him glory. Judgment only intensifies 
their sinful spirit. The fifth bowl is poured out, 
and at once darkness comes over all the kingdom 
of the Antichrist, because the sun had been turned 
to blood and fire, and now men go to the very 
depths of intensity and anguish, and gnaw their 
tongues for pain, and yet blaspheme the God of 
heaven, because of their pains and their sorrows, 
and still they repent not of their deeds. I once 
saw an awful sinner die ; one who it seemed, was 
already in hell. I often think of that man froth- 
ing at his mouth, gnashing with his teeth, ap- 
parently surrounded by devils ; that man went out 
cursing and blaspheming Christ and the Holy 
Spirit and the church, and me, as God's ambassa- 
dor, and all his friends, and I said, "Here is one 
little illustration of the last days, when we have 
hell on the earth." If you ever saw a creature 
like that die, you would want to save souls a 
thousand times more than before. 

The sixth poured out his bowl, this time upon 
the great river Euphrates, and the waters dried 
up so the kings of the earth could have a way 
prepared to come up from the sun rising — that 
is, for this woman to come back from the penin- 
sula of protection where, we saw in Chapter 
12:14, she had gone to be protected, and where 
the devil tried to turn her out by a flood, but 
where the earth swallowed it up. She comes with 
all her development into the land of Palestine, 



198 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



because the epiphany is about to come. She 
comes back for the sake of the Jewish people that 
have turned to Christ, and who at the time of 
His epiphany say, "This is our God; we have 
waited for Him, and He will save us ; this is the 
Lord; we have waited for Him, we will be glad 
and rejoice in His salvation". Isa. 25 :9. 

We are now right up to Chapter 19, brought 
up again to the epiphany of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
This then is the secret of the sixth bowl, and 
there is just one bowl left. He saw also three 
unclean spirits come out of the mouth of the 
dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and 
out of the mouth of the false prophet. They 
have been working all along in spirit, but then 
they will have become devilish systems, one rep- 
resenting Satan himself, the other Antichrist, and 
the other the false prophet. You will notice 
these systems are so definitely and clearly defined 
here, that there is no mistake; their identity is 
beyond the possibility of an error. Each one 
comes out of a separate individual here. Theoso- 
phy , which is anti-God, comes out of the 
devil's mouth; out of the mouth of the dragon. 
(Anti) Christian Science comes out of the mouth 
of the Antichrist and Spirit (ual) ism which is 
anti-Holy Spirit, comes out of the mouth of the 
false prophet, the false spirit that prophesies the 
wrong things. What does he say they are like? 
They are three unclean spirits, as it were, frogs. 
This is the symbolism of these unclean spirits, 
but, oh, how many they are deceiving these days, 



199 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



depopulating many of the churches, erecting 
temples all over the country. We have Buddhis- 
tic temples in this country, at least three that I 
know of. These systems of demon worship are 
so well organized and refined that they are car- 
ried on with the greatest aesthetics. These sys- 
tems will work stupendous miracles. No use 
to shut your eyes and stop your ears, and say 
there is nothing in it. There is, though I am 
sorry to have to say it, for very often there is 
more of the miraculous in it than in the church 
of God. 

We ought to rise up and show our faith by 
our works. That is why I am here. I am deter- 
mined by His Spirit and grace and truth that He 
has given me, to make myself felt against these 
hellish systems. 

Yes, they are working great things. (Anti)- 
Christian Science with its miracles of healing 
says that the great beast shall perform more heal- 
ings than the church of the Lord Jesus. She has 
some truth ; about three per cent philosophy, two 
per cent religion, and ninety-five per cent hum- 
bug, but it is a shame on the church. Then the 
church begs the question and invents the modified 
system of Emmanuelism to counteract Christian 
Science. I'd rather go home and die tonight than 
be healed by anybody else than the Lord Jesus 
Christ. No sir, I am not going around as a 
"healer," but I am around preaching the truth 
in the Lord Jesus Christ that will bring you 
where you can have His healing and life, and 



200 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



ministry of faith in His Name, so He will work 
the deliverance according to the exceeding great- 
ness of His power. 

We must have things well defined. I. Tim. 
4:1-3 makes a distinction between seducing spirits 
and doctrines of demons. The revised version 
tells you clearly they are spirits of demons. De- 
mons are the powers that manifest themselves in 
the body ; and, no doubt, belong to an antediluv- 
ian race. 

Then comes the declaration concerning the 
epiphany and the going forth unto the kings of 
the whole earth. They are going into the high 
places, into high society and among the monied 
people where they get any amount of money. It 
is estimated that Mrs. Eddy has derived more 
income from her books than any other author in 
the history of the world. I haven't figures to 
prove that, but from all appearances the state- 
ment seems not overdrawn. 

"To gather them to the battle of the great day 
of God the Almighty." This is the battle of 
Armagedon when the woman (the Jewish peo- 
ple) is let loose to come up there to join with 
the Lord against these three great false systems 
that have joined with Rome, but which in the 
meantime have been overthrown by the Anti- 
christ riding her in his power as the beast. Rome, 
as we shall see in the next chapter, will seem to 
fuse with these three, and inspire the kings to 
come up there to battle. 

201 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



Here is the call again, for we have pushed 
this line also up to the great epiphany : 

^ "Behold, I come as a thief; blessed is he that 
watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, 
and they see his shame." Rev. 16:15. 

There are a few faithful ones right up to the 
end when this second section is taken up. Then 
here in a little parenthetical passage is given 
what I have already told you. They are gather- 
ing them together, in verse 14, "And he (or they, 
meaning the Antichrist as the head leader) gath- 
ered them together into a place which is called 
in Hebrew 'Armagedon/ " meaning the army of 
Megiddo, near Jerusalem. We pushed up to that 
place in our last lecture where it speaks of the 
river of blood two hundred miles long. This is 
where the students could not harmonize this book, 
but God showed me all the different lines pushing 
up to this one culminating point of consumma- 
tion and of focal fulness. I have been running 
along here five different lines. Is this another 
matter? No, it is another line telling another 
phase of the tribulation. In the first half of the 
week there is only one general line under the 
Antichrist as a fine appearing man, keeping his 
covenant with the Jews and everything going 
along fairly good; just a little trouble coming 
on in the commercial, social, political and religi- 
ous worlds, but when you come into the second 
half of the week, there are five distinct lines all 
carried along, everyone ending up at the epiphany 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 



202 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



"And the seventh poured out his bowl upon 
the air." Here the last bowl is emptied out. 
These bowls mean so much. We had further 
back the bowls of the prayers of saints brought 
out twice, both in the first section of tribulation 
saints and in the second half of the tribulation. 
Go on to glory, father, mother, and if your boy 
or girl is not sanctified, God will answer the pray- 
ers you put up for them for if it was intercession 
it went into the bowl. The incense of Christ's 
prayer mixed with it and offered in the temple 
will bring them just like it brought other people 
who were saved after the others went home. 
There is a wonderful power in these bowls of 
prayers being opened in heaven. Oh the confi- 
dence we ought to have in prayer and in God. 
You may pass aw^ay, fall asleep in Jesus, but 
these prayers will be answered. Men and women 
are coming to me in these days who probably 
will be caught up in the parousia, and they say, 
"Oh my boy!" "My husband!" You must be 
saved further than that. You must have laid 
them on the altar, presented them perfect in 
Christ Jesus and leave them there, but as long 
as you have any worry about them your faith is 
not right. If you die in the faith, the Spirit will 
take it up, but if you put the flesh in, the Spirit 
cannot pray the prayer of intercession. His in- 
tercession is according to God. No intercessory 
prayer ever goes unanswered. You may go 
home, but when they see you are gone and see 
the tribulation coming on, then they will waken 



203 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



up. It will cost them their lives and they will 
be the future martyrs. 

Will you be true to the prayer life? It is the 
greatest ministry in the world. You may find 
in heaven you have had more in your prayer-life 
ministry than any other. How surprised I would 
be, after thirty years Christian work, and twenty- 
seven years preaching the Gospel as a minister, 
to find that the fruits of my prayer-life outnum- 
bered all the thousands of souls I have brought 
to God ! But so it may be. Oh when I get home, 
tired in my brain and body, I just put myself to 
soak in prayer, and present people in Christ Jesus 
to God, one after another. Then sometimes my 
wife will tell me of stories she has heard of awful 
slips and backslidings and failures, and for a 
minute it makes my heart tremble, but I look up 
and say, "Well, Lord, I present them in Christ 
Jesus to you." Then the Spirit prays, and now 
and then we hear of them coming back to God. 
Oh you must believe for people. If, when you 
hear stories about people, you let them go with- 
out prayer, they sink right down. Don't do it. 
Put a stronger line around them, the prayer of 
faith. They may go down just because you do 
not intercede for them. God forbid that a soul 
should go down because I have let go the ropes. 
Thou art thy brother's keeper. You can do that 
much at least. There are people we cannot reach, 
cannot teach; they are hopeless in a human 
way, but I am toiling with God for them. Inter- 
cession has gone out of my soul, and I will not 

204 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



let them go. I will trust God. Even if the devil 
gets the third part, the body, the spirit shall be 
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. I want to 
give you this great hope that there is in the 
power of the living Christ and His eternal Spirit. 

And there came a great voice out of the temple, 
from the throne, saying, "It is done." Rev. 16:17. 

All is ready! Christ is ready to come down. 
All is done; all the judgment tribulation is over. 
That was the word that came from the cross 
through the whitened, fainting, gasping lips of 
the Son of Man, "It is finished." That was the 
word from the cross and it finished all redemp- 
tion, all salvation, all atonement, all reconcilia- 
tion. And now after the redeemed ones are all 
taken up to heaven, and all the rejectors of God 
and His Christ, and the disobedient to His Gos- 
pel have had visited on them the wrath they 
heaped upon themselves, there comes a voice, not 
from Christ, this time, but from the throne of 
power; that was grace, this is sovereignty: "It 
is finished! It is done!" All done! All the 
sin, and the sorrow, the pain, the anguish, the 
tribulation, and the day of earth's regeneration, 
as well as individual men, — the day of the whole 
earth's regeneration has come. Jesus said to His 
disciples: "Ye which have followed me, in the 
regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in 
the throne of His glory, ye shall also sit upon 
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel." Matt. 19 :28. The day of earth's regen- 
eration has come. Isn't that blessed? Those 

205 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



three words from the cross, "It is finished/' made 
this possible, and now it is done, I always shout 
when I come to this place in my reading and in 
my thought. 

^ And there were lightnings, and voices, and thun- 
derings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was 
not since man was upon the earth, so mighty an earth- 
quake, so great. And the great city was divided into 

three parts — Rev. 16: 18, 19. 

It will be cleaved toward the west and the 
east, and the valley of Jehoshaphat will be 
changed; instead of running east and west, it 
will run north and south according to the 
prophecy, and there will be the three main sec- 
tions of the city, as it was in the kingdom days 
of David. There will be the general city; there 
will be old Mount Moriah with the temple; and 
the kingly residence, the place of power and ad- 
ministration, will be on Mount Zion, called the hill 
of David. 

*I And the cities of the nations fell; Rev. 16:19. 

With this great earthquake, these great build- 
ings will fall, probably one-third of them, ac- 
cording to the past text. 

4§ And Babylon the great was remembered before 
God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierce- 
ness of His wrath. And every island fled away, and 
the mountains were not found. And a great hail, as 
it were stones of a talent weight, falleth from heaven 
upon men: and men blasphemed God because of the 
plague of the hail; because the plague thereof is ex- 
ceedingly great. Rev. 16:19-21. 

Now comes on this gathered army, this time 
of great destruction, the battle of Armagedon. 



206 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



The Doom of Babylon. 

Now in Chapters 17 and 18 we have the story 
of this great Babylon that comes in remembrance 
before God, that we had mentioned in Chapter 
14:8. We have the story of Babylon here fully 
told ; the false church, the bride of the Antichrist. 
We have some further attention paid to her now, 
and there are two chapters given to the descrip- 
tion of her destruction, as there are two (4 and 
5) to describe the glory of the true Bride. 

The character and conduct of the bride of the 
Antichrist, the false church are here portrayed 
fully; she is tried and condemned and executed. 
Here are some of the marks by which you can 
easily identify her: 

•I "A woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names 
of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And 
the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and be- 
decked with gold and precious stones and pearls (five 
distinct marks of Pagan and Papal Rome), having a 
cup of gold in her hand full of abominations — and the 
filthiness of her fornication, — " Rev. 17 : 3, 4. 

This is the cup of Rome's indulgences, — for, 
remember her cup of gold was the cup of the 
sale of indulgence from which Rome got so much 
of her gold, especially before the days of the Re- 
formation, and while since those days she has 
recalled, largely, the public sale of these, yet she 
has practiced it continually, and is practicing it 
now in a negative way; that is, she is letting 
people do as they please and paying the money 
afterwards to be absolved. The sale of indul- 
gences in the days of Luther was in advance 



207 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



of the sin to be committed. While she has given 
that up people know they can do thus and so and 
then pay so much money and be absolved from 
it. And so the cup of her indulgence is still 
filling, a cup that has always been golden. 

^ And upon her forehead a name written, a Mystery, 
Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Harlots and 
the Abominations of the Earth. Rev. 17 :5. 

Just a moment to define the word Babylon. It 
is not restricted in any narrow sense, like in the 
earlier days when Babylon the great city was 
built in the valley, that stood, generally, for con- 
fusion of tongues. Babylon means confusion, 
and judgment at the gate; the place of going 
out and coming in; so through the tribulation 
and ending with it, as in the going out and com- 
ing in of all these systems, there is confusion 
wrought out by themselves, and God's judgment 
falling upon it and them. 

He says it is an Abomination before the whole 
earth. 

^ And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of 
the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: 
and I wondered when I saw her with great wonder. 
Rev. 17:6. 

This is the system that has made the martyrs 
of the earth. We see further on she has made 
them all, directly or indirectly. This statement 
is a fact, that she was "drunken with the blood 
of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs 
of Jesus." That was in the days of Pagan and 
Papal Rome, the days of the inquisition, when 



208 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



there were slain for the testimony of Jesus, his- 
tory tells us, fifty million souls. These alone 
would be half the number of the first company 
of the Bride. 

tj And the angel said unto me, "Wherefore didst thou 
wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, 
and of the beast that carried her, which hath the seven 
heads and the ten horns. Rev. 17 :7. 

It was a mystery, he said; now he tells the 
mystery in the history of the woman and the 
beast that carried her. 

<I "The beast that thou sawest, was, and is not, — Rev. 
17:8. 

He is beginning this story before the last half 
of tribulation, and he comes out of the abyss in 
his beastly form in the last half of the week. He 
is a fine looking man, a great psychical and physi- 
cal wonder; a beautiful man on a white horse 
in Chapter 6, with a crown and a bow ; but he 
shall go to perdition, and so he does in Chapter 
20, with Satan and the false prophet. 

And those who dwell on the earth shall wonder, 
whose names were not written in the book of life from 
the foundation of the world, when they behold the 
beast, because he was, and is not, and shall be present. 
Rev. 17:8. 

This fine man literally was coming up on the 
power of Pagan and Papal Rome, and his tem- 
poral power was taken away, but for a brief time 
it will be restored. That is the historical phase, 
but there will be the literal phase also. He was 
a fine man the first half of the week, then he dis- 
appears for awhile and then seems to have a 



209 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



mock resurrection for it says "he was," and then 
he has a different form and is present. 

^ "Here is the mind which hath wisdom." Rev. 17:9. 

What wisdom? To tell you the mystery of 
the beast, Pagan and Papal Rome, that helps 
the Antichrist to his first power, greatest power, 
and then he himself destroys her, rides her to 
death, so to speak, as we shall see in a moment. 
"Here is the mind that hath wisdom," in under- 
standing that, and he goes on to add to this wis- 
dom the exact geographical location. It is a 
mistake to think that this Babylon described in 
Chapters 17 and 18 of this book is simply and 
only the old city of Babylon ; there are, however, 
some things happening there that point to a pos- 
sibility of its being rebuilt. It is rather a great 
system, false Christian system of confusion, 
building up to heaven and blaspheming heaven, 
and taking the name of God upon it, as the pope 
now does. 

The seven heads are seven mountains on which 
the woman sitteth; the ten horns are the ten 
kings that are to come, that were symbolized 
by the toes of the image of the king that Daniel 
interpreted, that took their kingdom for a little 
while under the Antichrist. The seven moun- 
tains on which the woman sitteth, geographically 
locates the city of Rome, which is built on seven 
hills. 

1$ And there are seven kings : the five are fallen, the 
one is, the other is not yet come; and when he shall 
have come, he must continue a short space. Rev. 17:10. 



210 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



The temporal power will be given back again 
to Rome for a short space, and then the pope 
will be king as he was before 1870 when his tem- 
poral power was taken away through the great 
campaign by Garibaldi. 

"And the beast that was, and is not" — he him- 
self takes advantage of the temporal power of 
the pope to ride him to death. Rome will be 
deceived by all who will give her greater power. 

<J "And the beast that was, and is not, even He is the 
eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. 
And the ten horns which thou sawst are ten kings, who 
received not yet a kingdom; but they receive authority 
as kings at one hour with the beast." Rev. 17:11,12. 

Now Papal Rome and all other false systems, 
religious, social, industrial and political ; all secret 
orders ; theosophy, spiritism, Christian Science ; 
labor unions, industrial systems of anarchism, 
communism and socialism ; everything that is not 
squarely in line with God's Word of truth and 
the truths of Christ's Gospel — all these go to 
make up Babylon. Don't think it is simply the 
Roman system alone; that only heads it, and is 
the mother of all the other harlots and abomina- 
tions and false systems of the earth. These have 
power one hour with the beast, headed by this 
triumvirate of Satan, Antichrist, and the False 
Prophet, on whose power she rides to her own 
destruction. 

"These have one mind, and give their power 
and authority unto the beast," the Antichrist, and 
the result is the battle of Armagedon : 

211 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



1$ These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb 
shall overcome them : because he is Lord of lords, and 
King of kings : and those who are with him are called, 
and chosen, and faithful. Rev. 17 :14. 

1$ And the ten horns which thou sawest and the beast, 
these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate 
and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with 
fire. For God hath put into their hearts to fulfil his 
mind, and to make one mind, and to give their kingdom 
unto the beast, until the words of God shall be com- 
pleted. Rev. 17:16, 17. 

We push this line forward, you see, to that 
focal point again, — it is down to the epiphany; 
they have one mind to join all their power and 
to make war against the Lamb, and then God 
forces them to have one mind and they all turn 
against the mother, the harlot, and make her 
desolate, and eat her and burn her with fire. So 
the Antichrist destroys the papal power that 
helped him. God does not make wrath; God 
does not visit judgment on anybody, only per- 
missively. He lets the cup of the Amorites get 
full and permits them to pour it out upon them- 
selves. He lets you sin until you cannot sin any- 
more, and then your Savior gathers you up in 
His loving arms and says, "I will save you." Oh 
what a God ! He is a God of judgment per- 
missively only. He doesn't willingly or arbitrarily 
afflict man. Many Christians pray and pray 
about a thing until God permits them to have it, 
and they call it a wonderful answer to prayer. 
But God had nothing to do with it ; He only per- 
mitted it. Like the Israelites who wanted flesh; 
they never had boils or any trouble until this 



212 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



time, but they wanted flesh, and God sent quails, 
and they just ate and devoured them. He al- 
lowed them to have what they lusted for, but 
there came leanness into their souls. Ps. 106:14, 
15. Don't make the fatal mistake by thinking 
God's permissive will is His directive will. You 
have permitted your boys and girls to do many 
things your parent heart never directed. Be 
careful when you are looking for God's will, that 
you get His directive will and not simply His per- 
missive will. 

So He permits His wrath that they have 
heaped up, and put into bowls to be poured out. 
Whom can you blame for this, this heaping up 
wrath against the day of wrath? He only deals 
in mercy, and Habakkuk says in his great vision 
of the Almighty God, full of grace and mighty 
promise, "in wrath remember mercy." Hab. 3 :2. 
That is the magnanimity of this God we preach. 
It is an awful thing to reject a God like that, who 
does His utmost. But there is just one thing He 
cannot do. He cannot coerce a human will, for 
that would not be grace or salvation. 

*J And the woman whom thou sawest, is that great 
city, which holdeth sovereignty over the kings of the 
earth. Rev. 17:18. 

Only one city has done that all down through 
history, and that is Rome. 

Then he goes on with the description in Chap- 
ter 18. The first statement is that this "Babylon 
the great" is become a habitation of demons 
and every unclean spirit, the very thing we had 

213 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



mentioned in the latter part of Chapter 16, where 
that three-fold system comes out, Theosophy, 
Spiritism, and Christian Science. Babylon is be- 
come again 

<I "A habitation of devils, and a hold of every unclean 
spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 
Because by reason (of the wine) of the wrath of her 
fornication all the nations fell, and the kings of the 
earth committed fornication with her, and the merchants 
of the earth waxed rich through the power of her 
delicacies." Rev. 18:2, 3. 

And they weep and wail, and then comes the 
final call: 

€J "Come out of her, my people, that ye may have no 
fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
plagues." Rev. 18:4. 

Because, like the other Babylon of history, she 
has built up a system of unrighteous religion, of 
unholiness, and she will be rewarded as she has 
rewarded others, only she will get double, just 
as the Lord promised Israel double. 

And she said in her heart: 

<I "I sit a Queen, and am not a widow, and shall see 
no mourning :" Therefore in one day shall her plagues 
come, death, and mournings, and famine; and she shall 
be utterly burned with fire. Rev. 18:7. 

We further read in verses 22 and 23 that all 
music shall be taken away from her; no more 
music, no more singing, no more light in her, no 
more voice of bridegroom or bride, because the 
false bride's time has come, the merchants have 
wept over her because her great commercialism 
is destroyed. Just think for a moment of the 
commercialism of the system of Rome. Just look 



214 



WRATH AND JUDGMENT 



at the money spent in the purples and linens, in 
the scarlets and fine robes, of the gold and silver, 
candlesticks and statuary. Look at the worship, 
look at the ceremony, look at the money she 
spends in incense ! It takes a tremendous amount 
of money to keep up all the prelatical and priestly 
wardrobes, and their gold and silver and crowns. 
Then, added to that, see what it costs to run all 
the great secret orders. A man said to me, "It 
costs me more for the paraphernalia I have to 
wear, and the emblems, than it does my regular 
clothes." 

And the merchants of these things who were 
made rich by her shall stand afar off, weeping 
and mourning, and the shippers and sailors and 
those who trade by sea, stood afar off and cried, 

1$ "Alas, alas, the great city, wherein were made rich 
all that had the ships in the sea by reason of her costli- 
ness ! because in one hour was she made desolate!" 
Rev. 18:19. 

But in verse 20 they break out with : 

•I "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints and 
apostles and prophets; because God judged your cause 
upon her." 

It was the iniquity and wrath so filled up 
through persecution of God's true saints, that was 
her judgment because she made it hers. He ends 
this wonderful description of these two chapters 
with these words: 

*J "And the voice of bridegroom and of bride shall 
be heard no more at all in thee; because thy merchants 
were the great men of the earth ; because by thy sorcery 
were all the nations deceived. And in her was found 



215 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that 
have been slain upon the earth." Rev. 18:23, 24. 

These systems, not Rome alone, but all the 
other false systems with her, are responsible for 
all the martydom of the earth. Look at the thou- 
sands and thousands and hundreds of thousands 
of Jews that have been slaughtered, and while 
they don't come under the head of Bride and of 
saints, they come under the head of prophets, be- 
cause all the Jews are God's prophets in a sense ; 
God's prophetic people in the earth. This is the 
end. We are right up now to the epiphany. Now 
this is an awful picture. John saw the vision. He 
says the spirit of Antichrist is already in the 
world. You have to keep clear of it; you have 
to oppose it, and again I ring out in the ears of 
all true saints of God, the old promise of Luke 
21:36, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, 
that ye may be counted worthy to escape all these 
things that shall come to pass, and to stand be- 
fore the Son of Man." 



216 



XI 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY. 

UR TEXT is a Hebrew word of 
four syllables and everybody can 
pronounce it. It is the shout of 
the true church, gathered out of 
all the churches during the Gentile 
times, which are not yet finished. 
The word is "Alleluia!" (Rev. 
19: 1). And the second time they 
said, "Alleluia !" And then all creatures on the 
earth and every animate thing everywhere saith, 
"Alleluia!" You must learn that old Hallelujah 
chorus, for if you would sing it up there you 
must practice it here. There the coronation hymn 
will be sung, and they will "crown Him Lord of 
all." I thank God we have come to the place in 
this book where the coronation hymn is sung, 
and the Hallelujah Chorus rolls forth. 

Chapter 19: "After these things"— What 
things ? After the seven years, the week of 
years, when the tribulation is over. After all 
the things have occurred we have been looking 
into from the first verse of Chapter 6 to the end 
of Chapter 18 — Division 3 of the book. After 
these things we are introduced to Division 4 of 
the book, which is occupied with the epiphany or 
appearing, the full revelation of the Lord Jesus 
Christ on earth. 




217 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



Converging Lines of Vision. 
W e have followed the several lines of prophetic 
vision through that scripture, Chapters 6 to 18, 
through the seven years of tribulation, and now 
come to the glorious consummation when Jesus 
comes back to earth. And while I cannot appeal 
to your eye, because of lack of chart, I think I 
can draw you a word picture that will help your 
ear. I illustrate it by my hand. There are five 
fingers, counting the thumb. All those fingers 
converge into the palm of my hand. All these 
lines we have been following through these chap- 
ters converge and culminate into the nineteenth 
chapter, the epiphany, the appearing of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. You will notice every one of these 
lines we followed carried us up to a statement 
regarding the epiphany of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
but we have to go back in each case and bring 
up each line to its close before we could have the 
epiphany; we have to take up one line of the 
plot, and then take up another line until we have 
them all brought up, for this book has the great- 
est of all plots, and all parts must be brought up 
to the great sequel at the end; the sequel of the 
ages, of all creation and redemption; of promise 
and of fulfilment. Therefore, I say, we must go 
back in each case and bring the five subjects up 
one after another, which are: Antichrist, Pow- 
ers of Evil, Israel, Tribulation Christians and 
Babylon. Israel, as you will notice is the center 
line. 

These five lines I am going to enumerate briefly 

21 8 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



as a recapitulation. The first line was the 
Antichrist beginning in Chapter 6 as a king and 
conqueror on a white horse, with crown and bow ; 
a real good, promising fellow, making his coven- 
ant with the Jews, and overturning every ap- 
parent enemy of the Jews. The Jews think he is 
helping them back to their preeminence as the 
people of the earth. We run that line through 
from Chapter 6 up to the epiphany, with all these 
political, commercial, industrial and social con- 
summations, the participants crying for the 
mountains and the rocks to fall upon them and 
hide them from the face of the Lamb that is 
coming back. This line runs up to the conclu- 
sion of the first half of the week. 

Then in the second half of the week we have 
four lines, the second is the great cosmic and seis- 
mic judgments controlled by .Satan himself. This 
we call the Satanic line, or Powers of evil, where 
he comes down and opens up the abyss, and you 
have those awful spirit-horses and dragons upon 
the earth, working their great slaughter. 

The third line is the line of the Jews or Israel, 
God's ancient people, which constitutes the cen- 
tral one of these five lines. These are in the midst 
of it all and yet protected by God through it 
all. You are in the midst of evil today, but thank 
God you may not be of it. "I pray not that Thou 
shouldst take them out of the world, but that 
Thou shouldst keep them from the evil." John 
17:15. 

Remember that God's people are on the earth all 

219 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



through these times of tribulation. The Jews, and 
the tribulation saints, as well as the wicked are all 
here, and people are being saved right in the midst 
of all this persecution and awful deviltry. Don't 
say to me, "It is my environment; if I had differ- 
ent environment I could be a child of God." You 
can live a child of God in a cess-pool of iniquity, 
with impurity and rottenness all around you, 
and have a pure sweet life, wholesome as heaven. 
Why? Oh there is a mighty reason; it is be- 
cause a higher spiritual law will operate in you, 
and despite the fact that you live in Chicago, or 
near Chicago's slums, or in Chicago's workshops 
that are the vestibule of hell, with their drunken- 
ness and depravity and skepticism, nevertheless, 
"greater is He that is in you than he that is in 
the world." There is a law working in us that 
neutralizes, and even overcomes and uses the 
evil as a help to grace and to God. 

The third line is composed of Jews, and the 
fourth line of tribulation Christians, with the 
144,000 which the Jewish people bring forth, and 
this line also runs through to the epiphany of 
Jesus. The first line is again taken up in Chap- 
ter 13, which is Antichrist, now a beast, no 
longer a king; not a great ruler deceiving the 
people, but a beast coming up out of the abyss, 
and a false prophet joined with him, and the 
three forms of great demon operations and wor- 
ship ; the three frogs, — Theosophy, Spiritism and 
Christian Science, all of which are revealed in 
Chapter 15, and all head up to the epiphany. 



220 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



In Chapters 17 and 18 the fifth line is taken 
up, that of Babylon, the last of all ; Babylon sunk- 
en down into excessive iniquity like Sodom, like 
the days of Noah. Rome heads that system and 
with her all other pseudo-Christian bodies in the 
earth at that time are correlated, including the 
bulk of all secret orders. All these systems put 
together constitute the great Babylon, and this 
line also runs up to the epiphany of Jesus, in the 
last verse of Chapter 18; the appearing of Christ 
and the preparation for the introduction of the 
millennial age, all these converge and culminate 
in this great and glorious consummation. 

The Epiphany. 

Now we are up to Chapter 19. We want to 
note some important items here regarding this 
chapter. There are perhaps six items and the 
best way to get a full view of the chapter is to 
look at it item by item. 

The first item is the true Bride. The bride of 
the Antichrist has been tried, condemned and 
executed; then the true church, the Bride of 
Christ, that He so loves, and which so loves Him, 
is brought forth by the heavenly host, to the 
music of the wedding march, which is the old 
hallel of Psalms 113 to 118. This is sung by 
the Jews, the Bride joining, and then amid the 
joyful sound of many voices, the coronation hymn 
is sung by these as the Hallelujah Chorus of 
this great multitude, a multitude made up of the 
Bride, the two sections of tribulation saints, the 



221 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



four living creatures, and the twenty-four eld- 
ers, all joining in the antiphonal chorus ; and all 
the ends of the earth join in and say, "Alleluia! 
etc!" 

The second item therefore that greets us is 
the song of the Bride, the seventh song of the 
book, the closing song, the wedding hymn. This 
is what all our song practice is bringing us to, 
all the results of our worship. There are four 
Alleluias in this great song. The Bride sings 
the chorus to the hymn, then the first and second 
sections of tribulation saints take it up and trill 
the antiphonal chorus, which was the same with 
the Atonement song in the translation song of 
the Bride in Chapters 4 and 5. The four living 
creatures and the twenty-four elders take it up, 
and then all the living creatures in the earth join 
in, and thus there are four parts to the song, and 
four "Alleluias." It is a great antiphonal chorus ; 
it will be sublime and will be the answer to what 
we have said in our hymnology on earth : 

"Well, the delightful day will come, 
When my dear Lord will take me home, 
And I shall see His face;" 

but until that day comes 

"I'd soar and touch the heavenly strings, 
And vie with Gabriel while he sings, 
In notes almost divine." 

This is the marriage song, the seventh song, 
hence the song of perfection, of completeness. 
The Bride comes forth with her glorious Bride- 

222 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



groom, with her blessed company of virgins, 
companions and servants; virgins, 144,000; com- 
panions, first section of the tribulation saints, 
and servants made up of the second section of 
the tribulation saints, who are the palm-bearers 
and the harpers waiting on the Bride. Here you 
have the two regal loyal companies according 
to the Psalms, according to the New Testament; 
one precedes and the other follows the Bride 
into the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then 
comes the third item, one of the great beatitudes 
of the book : 

{][ "Blessed are those who have been called unto the 
marriage supper of the Lamb." And he saith unto 
me, "These are the true words of God." Rev. 19:9. 

Oh yes, this will be no sham; no empty plates 
at that banquet; complete but free, purchased 
by the blood of the Lamb; free to him who has 
been washed and redeemed by the blood, and has 
on pure linen. He can come in as a priest of 
God and "sit down with Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob in the kingdom of God." This great ban- 
quet introduces the kingdom. Then will come 
true Matt. 25:1, and also Matt. 19:28, wherein 
He says, "Ye which have followed Me, in the 
regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in 
the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon 
twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of 
Israel." At this time the twenty-fourth Psalm 
will be fulfilled. 

This ought to inspire any man or woman to 
leave the service of the devil and come out on the 



223 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



Lord's side, and say, "Spirit of the Living God, 
purify my heart and get me ready for that day; 
Lord Jesus, I yield allegiance to Thee today, 
Thou King of kings, and Lord of lords !" 

Then we come to the fourth item, the armies 
of the heavens, in purity and faithfulness, clad 
in white linen, seated in victory, upon white 
horses just like Christ. Purity, faithfulness, and 
victory ! These three things characterize the 
armies of heaven. Why? Because they must 
characterize those who join it on earth. You 
know you have recruiting officers in every large 
city, recruiting soldiers for Uncle Sam's army. 
He can't get enough — not so much because of 
insufficient pay, but because of the strict discip- 
line, for the ordinary American citizen hates dis- 
cipline. We are in the days of insubordination 
on the earth. People will do anything but sub- 
ordinate themselves to each other, but oh, pity 
the life that does not know the wholesome, edu- 
cating hand and restraining arm of discipline! 
Pity that life, for sooner or later it will go down 
in the vortex of licentiousness and liberty of the 
flesh. 

But as I have just said, three things must 
characterize the soldiers of this army — purity, 
faithfulness and victory. If you let God purify 
you, He will speedily make you faithful, and you 
will be in the place of victory. Let the fire of 
the Holy Spirit burn all self and sensual desires 
out of you, until you become pure in thought and 
motive, and then it will be easy to be faithful in 

224 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



service. But it is hard to be faithful with impure 
motives in your soul, impure desires in your spirit, 
and impure thoughts controlling your mind. Get 
down before God on His altar and let the blood 
flow over you. Get down 09 the altar and let 
the oil be put on your ear and your thumb, and 
toe, purified and anointed. Oh it is delightful 
to be faithful ! "I delight to do Thy will, O my 
God!" And when you are faithful it is easy to 
have victory. "This is the victory that over- 
cometh the world, even our faith" and to the 
degree that we are faithful, even to that degree 
will God Himself, in Christ, be our Victory, and 
we become more than conqueror through Christ 
who loved us. 

Here John saw the heavens opened and says: 

^ And behold a white horse; and He that sat upon 
him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness 
He doth judge, and make war. His eyes were as a 
flame of fire, and on His head were many diadems : and 
He had a name written, that no man knoweth but He 
Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped 
in blood: and His name hath been called the Word of 
God. And the armies in heaven followed Him upon 
white horses, clothed in fine linen white and pure. 
Rev. 19:11-14. 

There is your purity, faithfulness and victory ; 
things that must characterize the saints of God. 
Here again we have Christ's seven-fold name, 
Faithful, True, Righteous, Judge, Word of God, 
Almighty, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 
Concerning His Name there are two striking 
things — He has an inner name and an outer name. 
This is an important point which many students 



225 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



of the book overlook. Notice in verse 12 He had 
many diadems, and a name written that no man 
knoweth but He Himself ; that is His inner name. 
In verse 16 we are told He had on His thigh a 
name written, " King of Kings, and Lord of 
Lords/'' That is the outer name. The inner 
name no one knoweth but He that hath it. The 
Word of God is His inner name— this the world 
does not see or believe. He is the logos, the 
living Word of God, by which all things were 
created, redeemed, and then preserved. It has 
three elements in it. It is a creative word, a 
redeeming word, and it is a preserving word. 
The world will see and know Him by the outer 
name ; it is on the banner, on His thigh, probably 
on the sheath of the sword, but the redeemed 
shall know Him by the inner name also. 

This is the Ever-victorious One — the King 
of kings and Lord of lords. Those who recognize 
His inner name become overcomers and to these 
is given "the little white stone, and on the stone 
a new name written, which no one knoweth save 
he who receiveth it." Rev. 2:17. That is the 
hidden name of Christ, the Word of God. They 
kept the Word and, in turn, it kept them. The 
Psalmist puts it right, "Thy Word have I hid 
in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee." 
It is the living Word as a living power that keeps 
you, in the midst of unbelief and scepticism. 

Jesus has an outer name, and so will His over- 
coming ones have an outer name, and it will be 
in harmony with the inner one just as His is. 

226 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 

Read Chapter 3:12 and you will get the outside 
name of these overcoming, victorious ones that 
are to make up the army of the heavens. It is, 
" Him That Overcometh/' 

Then we have some other things mentioned 
about Christ : His eyes are a flame of fire, which 
means perfect discernment, revelation and un- 
derstanding; His head has all the diadems on 
it, all crowns come to Him now. Antichrist was 
trying to get them, but all he got were gilded, 
not golden. Here are the royal diadems set with 
all the jewels of the earth. Malachi tells us He 
will take them out as a special treasure. As to 
His robe, His vesture — what is it that covers 
Him? The same that clothed us. His blood; 
righteousness through His blood. His vesture, 
His robe, is scarlet, just as it was when He came 
from the winepress yonder, dipped in blood, the 
blood of His redeeming love and grace. His 
hand holds a sharp sword, the Word of God, 
which is the power of God. As to His feet, they 
tread the winepress of the wrath of God, and, 
like Joshua of old, all the land His feet touch 
becomes His people's possessions. I want you 
to see that He not only has a seven-fold name, 
but a seven-fold work to do. On His thigh, 
loins, the place of strength, appears "King of 
kings, and Lord of lords." Now herein we have 
the seven-fold name, the seven-fold work, and 
the three-fold glorification — purity of spirit, 
faithfulness of soul, and victory in the physical 
life. 



227 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



And then the fifth item is the great battle, 
which we have touched on so much. We need 
just a brief look at the great battle of the day of 
the Almighty, introduced in Chapter 14:19, 20, 
and mentioned in Chapters 16:16 and 17:14, as 
we found in running up those different lines to 
the epiphany. The Antichrist and his followers 
march up to Jerusalem to do battle with the King 
of kings, and the angel calls to the fowls of the 
heavens to come and gather themselves to the 
judgment of God. This is not the Lord's sup- 
per, but the Antichrist's. At this supper the 
fowls of the air come and eat the "flesh of kings, 
and the flesh of chief-captains, and the flesh of 
mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and those 
that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both 
free and bond, both small and great.'' 

This is the battle of Armagedon, of which it 
is said that blood shall run four feet deep and 
two hundred miles long, the whole length of 
Palestine, from the slain of the Lord, which 
shall be in that day. Ezek. 39 : 17-20 gives a vivid 
picture of that battle. 

Then comes the sixth item, the doom of the 
beast, the Antichrist, and the doom of the false 
prophet, in the lake of fire. 

The Millennium. 

Now let us look at Chapter 20, which tells of 
the Millennium and constitutes the fifth division 
of the book. It is one thousand years of righte- 
ousness. The first item is Satan bound and in 



228 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



prison, verses 1-3, no tempter and no interferer. 
He is interfering continually now, and tempting. 
We may in prayer claim victory over every seduc- 
ing spirit, but he is still oppressing ; the saints of 
God cannot come up to make their offerings and 
worship, but, as in Job's time, Satan comes also. 
But then there will be no more interferer. There 
will be no opposition then to people doing right, 
and if there are any innate evil motives left, there 
will be no opportunity for development or mani- 
festation. Oh wouldn't that be a blessed thing 
now? But in these present evil days even after 
we are crucified and dead to the self-life, we are 
never through with the devil. There are tempta- 
tions from without, and people get puzzled, and 
think there is something wrong within, but not 
necessarily so; it is the power of Satan from 
without and we must resist him in faith, in the 
name of Jesus Christ. 

Satan is bound by a strong angel who opens 
the abyss, and he is put into it. I suppose he does 
not like to have it open any more, but the angel 
comes down and opens it. We are told in Chap- 
ter 9 that he let all the demons out of the abyss 
and they swarmed over all the earth, and brought 
on that deadly, intense tribulation, and Satan 
hopes, I suppose, to stay out of it forever, but he 
is mistaken. Down comes the angel who has the 
key to the abyss, and Satan is put into it. The 
Antichrist and the false prophet are already in 
the lake of fire, but Satan is to be down in the 
abyss for a thousand years. 



229 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



The second item in this chapter is in verses 4 
to 6, which tells about some of the first resurrec- 
tionists, and the position they occupy. Dr. 
Tregelles has a very interesting and helpful note 
here, which embodies a nice point in Greek 
exegesis. It is this, "that often there is first a 
general statement which is followed by one or 
more clauses that contain a specific description, 
although included in the general statement." 
This is true of the verse here given : 

jd And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and 
judgment was given unto them: — Rev. 20:4. 

This is the general statement which is fol- 
lowed by these specific statements: 

<I And I saw the souls of those that were beheaded 
because of the testimony of Jesus, and because of the 
Word of God, and those who had not worshipped the 
beast, neither his image, and had not received the mark 
on their forehead, and on their hand; and they lived 
and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Rev. 20:4 

There is an exact parallel of this thought in 
Chapter 1 :7. The general statement is, "Every 
eye shall see Him" — the specific added clauses are, 
"and they which pierced Him," etc. But this 
last clause is included in the first and is added 
only for emphasis and clearness ; so it is here with 
the clauses, "and had not worshipped the beast," 
etc. 

Now Antichrist was not a beast in the first r j/ 
half of the week, w&en the first half of tribula- 
tion saints were gathered out. What did they 
do? They were beheaded simply for the testi- 
mony of Jesus and the Word of God, but the 

230 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



second section of tribulation saints were slain 
and got the victory over the beast, because "they 
would not worship him nor his image, nor re- 
ceive his mark on their forehead nor their hand" 
— exactly the same as quoted about the second 
section of tribulation saints in Chapter 15, to- 
wards the last half of the week. I told you 
I would bring you the Word of God for an 
emphatic statement concerning the three classes, 
— -the 144,000, the first section tribulation saints 
and the second section, which three classes com- 
plete the first resurrection. Now what is added? 
"They all lived and reigned with Christ a thou- 
sand years," the 144,000 sitting on thrones and 
judging Israel. The bride is in two bodies, one 
celestial and the other terrestrial; one Gentile — 
"first fruits"; the other Jewish — "the remnant 
according to the election of grace." 

f§ And the rest of the dead lived not until the thou- 
sand years were completed. Rev. 20:5. 

This then that I have been talking about is 
the first resurrection, and it is made up of the 
three groups already mentioned. 

1$ Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first 
resurrection : over these the second death hath no 
power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, 
and shall reign with Him the thousand vears. Rev. 
20:6. 

The third item is the thousand years herein 
mentioned twice. Now let me tell you something 
about this thousand years. There are seven great 
facts or conditions which the scriptures tell us 



231 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



will obtain during this millennial reign of Christ 
on earth. 

First fact, perfect liberty of conscience and 
conduct. God will be able to trust His people 
then. They say the constitution of the United 
States gives liberty to everybody. It does not. 
There never was a constitution written on the 
earth, that gave everybody perfect liberty of con- 
duct. All that any constitution ever gave any- 
body is liberty of conscience ; but then we shall 
have liberty of conduct, that which is hinted at 
in Romans 8 where it says, "The law of the spirit 
of life in Christ Jesus hath made us free from the 
law of sin and death," which introduces liberty 
of soul in moral things, but when Romans 8: 21, 
22 shall be literally fulfilled, then everybody may 
do as he pleases, because everybody pleases the 
Lord. 

The second fact is the renewing of the earth. 
The earth abideth forever, says the Word in Ps. 
119:90 and Fxcl. 1:4; but it is renewed, regen- 
erated, II. Pet. 3:12, 13; somewhat as I was re- 
generated and renewed, yet I am the same ident- 
ity, even though a new man in Christ Jesus. This 
same law applies to the earth and the heavens, 
both of which must be renewed and reconstructed 
in such a way that sin shall never come into it, 
even in thought, much less act. 

The third condition is unhindered, unadulter- 
ated righteousness, according to Psalm 77. The 
fourth, the central one of the seven, is perfect 
cosmic conditions, good weather, good climate. 

232 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



You won't have to go to Florida, Texas, or the 
Coast in the winter, or back to the Northern lakes 
and the New England mountains in the summer. 
You can go anywhere around the world, for it 
will be good weather and good climate every- 
where. You ask how I know? I know because 
of what I read in Isaiah 30:18-26. 

The fifth condition during the millennium is 
perfect and continuous health. We get a little 
bit of perfect health now, but it doesn't stay. It's 
dangerous now to ask people "How do you feel ?" 
for fear some will feel sick, but there is a time 
coming when we shall have perfect and continu- 
ous health. Isa. 33 :24 says, "And the inhabitants 
shall not say, I am sick ; the people that dwell 
therein shall be forgiven." If you can get all 
iniquity out and away from the lives of the peo- 
ple in this congregation I will guarantee you will 
be sick no more. I do not say your sickness is 
the direct result of some iniquity in you, but it 
is the result of iniquity mighty close around you. 
Oh God bring us into that land soon. It is bet- 
ter than moving to the mountains or into other 
climates. We shall then move into the place 
where God reigns and where the Lamb is the 
light. 

Following these, naturally and logically, comes 
long life (sixth), "fulness of days." Then Psalm 
91, which is the Millennial Psalrn will be literally 
fulfilled. Psalm 90 is the Psalm of the Gentile 
age, and it ends up by saying, "The days of our 
years are three-score years and ten ; if by reason 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



of strength they be forescore .years, yet is their 
strength, labor and sorrow/' Now in old age 
and in sickness somebody has to care for us, 
while the grasshopper becomes a burden, and the 
windows are dim, and we totter and fall; finally 
the wheel is broken at the cistern and the pitcher 
broken at the fountain, and man goeth to his 
long home, and the mourners go about the streets 
weeping. That is the story now at the end of 
seventy years, but it is not the story of the millen- 
nium. Then we shall be "under the shadow 
of the Almighty," hiding in God. "With long 
life shall I satisfy him and show him My salva- 
tion." "The wicked shall not live out half their 
days." Many are not living out half their days 
in this age. Seventy years is the allotted time, 
but the average Gentile generation is only about 
thirty- three years now. However, the Jew who 
keeps the covenant of Moses in sanitation, 
dietetics and hygiene, lives an average of fifty- 
^two years, because he is obedient to physical 
laws. It is a shame on us. We ought to live 
long and serve God, and we may if we will obey 
the teaching of His Word. There will be no 
deaths in that day, except as a penalty for dis- 
obedience. A "sinner being an hundred years 
old shall be accursed," because a man's day shall 
be ia thousand years, and we shall live again the 
days of Methusala. Isa. 65 :20-22. 

The last {seventh) condition which will pre- 
vail in the millennium will be instantaneous an- 
swers to prayer and perfect peace. Isa. 65 : 24, 25. 

234 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



Now to come back to the running comment 
of the chapter: The fourth general item in this 
twentieth chapter is the loosing of Satan and the 
great battle of Gog and Magog, a mixed myriad, 
that shall come up as the sands on the seashore. 
There is a necessity for the loosing of Satan as 
noted in verse 8, for he must be tested out like 
everybody else, put upon his own moral respon- 
sibility, to see if the thousand years of incarcera- 
tion would cure a devil, and if there is any such 
thing as devil reformation and hell redemption; 
but you see there is not. He comes back and 
immediately starts in with his old work. He 
hates God all the more, and I imagine he says, 
"Why I disturbed the upper heavens where I 
first lived with God, and they cast me out ; then I 
lived in the second heaven, Euranium, and then 
I lived on the earth, and now while I have been 
in the abyss, I declare if they haven't brought 
heaven right down on the earth, and Paradise is 
restored." 

But there are people (Ps. 18:44) that have 
only feigned obedience, because it was the best 
thing to obey the Lord; they found out that 
those who did not obey were cut off — the age of 
childhood being advanced from seven to one 
hundred, which is one-tenth of a thousand, just 
as seven is to seventy years now. They haven't 
got real purity of motive; it is not like the next 
age, absolutely perfect, but it will be righteous- 
ness controlling, governing everything. And so 
the devil comes back and finds many responding 



235 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



to his deception. I do not say there would be 
sufficient evil in the people to do this, but the 
moment Satan is let out again and comes with 
his temptations, seductive snares and wiles ; there 
is enough of it in them to respond ; it is begotten 
from without, but he finds a little bit of common 
ground, and so he deceives the nations again. It 
is not so much personal immorality as it is poli- 
tical deception, and the story as to the effect of 
his work and their mad march into the slough of 
death is all told in twelve brief words in the latter 
part of verse 9. 

^ And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and 
compassed the citadel of the saints about, and the be- 
loved city. 

And the twelve words that follow tell the story of 
the utter downfall. 

^ And iire came down out of heaven from God and 
devoured them. Rev. 20:9. 

A judgment of fire! 

The fifth item is the devil's doom, told in one 
brief verse : 

And the devil that deceived them was cast into the 
lake of fire and brimstone, where both the beast and 
the false prophet are, and they shall be tormented day 
and night forever and ever. Rev. 20:10. 

Then the sixth item is the general judgment, 

the Great White Throne judgment, described in 

Matt. 25 :41-46, when the book of life is opened, 

and the books of the lives are opened, and we see 

the good and bad, small and great, just as you do 

in Matt. 25 and other portions of this book; it 

means two classes. 



286 



CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



Seventh item, "the rest of the dead" that are 
not written in the book of life, go into the lake of 
fire, where the beast and the false prophet were cast 
before the thousand years began, where the devil 
was cast at the close, and where those are cast 
who are still incorrigible. "This is the second 
(or soul) death." 

You will be judged by two things; Christ, who 
is the word of life, and by your own life. 

IJ And whosoever was not found written in the book 
of life was cast into the lake of fire. Rev. 20:15. 

But we may all be among "the armies of 
heaven," pure, faithful, victorious, on our white 
horses, with our crowns and scepters; with our 
thrones, our rewards and our glory ; and, best of 
all, with Him. Oh dear brother, sister, there is 
something ahead worth striving for. 



237 



XII 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS. 



That is every thing named in the book. Oh 
what an inheritance we shall have! You talk 
about millionaires ; this book makes billionaires. 
We shall have not only "the exceeding riches of 
His grace'' but also the exceeding "riches of 
glory/ and these are riches that the world knows 
nothing about. And listen! It is to "him that 
overcometh" May God write that on your 
heart tonight, for only He can do it. My words 
cannot do it, and though I open up this blessed 
book, this wonderful book, so you can read it as 
a primer, that will not do it. God must write 
it on your heart until your heart says, "Even 
unto death, by Thy grace, I will be an over- 
comer" There is grace as fathomless as the sea ; 
there is grace flowing from Calvary; there is 
grace enough for me. And so you can be an 
overcomer. I wish you would realize that you 
are an overcomer, just now. Some of you do; 
it is throbbing in your soul now, tingling in your 




N OUR final lecture we deal with 
Divisions 6 and 7 of the Book 
which cover the last two chapters. 
Our text is Rev. 21 : 7, the final 
and full promise to the overcomer : 

tj "He that overcometh shall inherit 
these things ; and I will be his God, and 
he shall be My son." 



238 



THE 



CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



veins, thrilling you with holy joy. How inspiring 
to think that in this Twentieth Century, in the 
midst of Laodicea and Rome, and all the anti- 
Christian organizations, we can walk with Christ 
in the love of God and be an overcomer! Fd 
rather quit living than not be an overcomer, but 
I died to be one. "He that overcometh shall in- 
herit these things." This is not the promise of 
somebody who is unable to fulfil it. He says, "I 
will be His God." He Himself assures us, so 
that we shall never lose this inheritance. Nobody 
will ever touch this. This inheritance brings a 
God with it, an Administrator that just keeps it 
full all the time. "I will be his God and he 
shall be My son." You will continue to inherit 
all the time, and will never, never get out of your 
heritage — your birthright. You never can be 
disqualified or disinherited again; no devil to do 
it, no Antichrist, no theosophy, no spiritism, no 
Christian Science, no sceptics, no unbelief, no 
higher critics and no critics of any kind, but 
dwelling in glory, exceeding abundantly above 
all we ask or think. And so, after our asking is 
over, our thoughts even are surpassed in God's 
doing. Some time you will have to lose your 
mind in Christ. Let us begin now to be "lost in 
wonder, love and praise." 

Well, who have we up there now? — These 
"overcomers." We have been putting people up 
there all through the book, and at the same time 
been pulling down some of the strongholds of 
Satan. 



239 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



There are two parts : in Chapter 21 we have 
the great restoration, "all things new/' the result 
of the millennium, and in Chapter 22 comes the 
eternal glory. 

Ranks in Glory. 

While we started sending up these "overcom- 
es" in Chapters 4 and 5 where we had the Bride, 
it has not yet ended, but we are doubtless in its 
last stages. The parousia may come at any time, 
and I wish it would come before I get through 
with these lectures. I never in my life felt so 
much like going up. But oh, a pain for "others" 
runs through me now. Lord, help that soul to 
say, "I am ready, morning, noon, evening or 
midnight." Are you loosened from all the things 
of this world? Is your husband on the altar? 
wife on the altar? Are your hands off your 
children? Is everything consecrated? You are 
not ready for that day if it is not. 

We started in with the things that are after 
these — the church period — and saw four living 
creatures up on the throne; Enoch, Moses, 
Elijah and John; then the twenty-four elders, 
that is representative men, twelve of the old dis- 
pensation and twelve of the new. I would not 
say positively that they are the patriarchs and 
the apostles, but elders, that is the leading, strong, 
spiritual men. 

Then we have the estimate of 100,000,000 of 
the Bride of the Lamb. All these are seen up 
in heaven in Chapters 4 and 5. Then a further 

240 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



estimate of 100,000,000 first section tribulation 
saints, second section of the first resurrection, 
Chapter 7, out of the first half of the tribulation 
week. Then the 144,000 out of the twelve tribes, 
the Jewish Bride or "first fruits." They were 
sealed in Chapter 7, translated in Chapter 12, 
and their position at the epiphany of Christ is 
given in Chapter 14. Then we have the second 
section of tribulation saints, probably another 
100,000,000 in Chapter 15. Now putting all these 
together we have 300,144,028. Then we saw at 
the end of the millennium in the general resur- 
rection, that the saved come up with the unsaved, 
and that the unsaved are the exception, not the 
rule, and hence we begin to understand the force 
of the statement "myriads which no man could 
number." For, in addition to the more than three 
hundred millions just mentioned, we must include 
among the saved those who die before they reach 
the age of accountability, which according to 
some authorities constitute at least one-half the 
population of the earth; and this again must be 
increased by the vast number of people that will 
be saved during the millennium. Hence, literally 
there are "myriads which no man could number." 
Therefore, Satan gets, probably, one-third and 
Christ two-thirds, so that where sin abounded, 
grace did much more abound. 

Now in this survey we have seven ranks or 
classes; the perfect and complete number. (1) 
the four living creatures; (2) the twenty-four 

241 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



elders; (3) the Bride; (4) the first section of the 
tribulation saints; (5) the 144,000; (6) the sec- 
ond section of tribulation saints; and (7) all the 
rest of the saved. Seven classes. Keep that in 
mind and it will help you to understand the 
apostle when he says, "every man in his own 
order/' or rank. 

The Restoration. 

Chapters 21, Division 6, is taken up with re- 
storation, with the new things. How many new 
things? Seven. First, "I saw a new heaven." 
Let us be sure, by His grace, to reach it. Let 
us begin now to move into the new things. Every- 
thing will have to be made new. Second, "A 
new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," and 
it will dwell there forevermore. Some day we shall 
move into the new earth and go to keeping house 
there. Not an unrighteous thought or an unright- 
eous act will ever come there. Think of living 
forever with our good old Sister Righteousness 
that Jesus presented to us. Sister Righteousness 
and Sister Patience are the two best sisters I ever 
had. One is the beginning of the Christian life 
and the other the end, for the first thing said 
about the saints is righteousness, and the last is 
patience. Just let us live with these two sisters, 
and we shall always have a blessed time. 

Well then, in the third place, we are going to 
have a new city called Jerusalem, not the one 
that is to be built on earth ; that is a city rebuilt, 
but we are going to have a brand New Jerusalem 

242 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



that never did exist, and it is to be our city. 
There will be no graft there, nor bribery ; no un- 
faithful aldermen and no city council to sell us 
out. No policemen will be needed there, and only 
those who have washed their robes in the blood 
of the Lamb will be citizens of it. 

The fourth new thing is the tabernacle, a new 
place of worship. These are just the words 
from the text here ; new heaven, new earth, New 
Jerusalem. 

This New Jerusalem is for the heavenly peo- 
ple; the earthly people have their capital city, 
Jerusalem. That is not all, for in the fifth 
place we have a new Presence. You won't have 
to get down on your knees and say, "Please 
Lord, come into the service tonight," because 
He will be there. You will see Him and know 
Him in a far more real sense than you do spiritu- 
ally now. It will be a presence in the temple of 
God's people they have never had before. It is 
the presence of the Father Himself. "God Him- 
self shall be with them," the whole Godhead, of 
course, visible to us then, because we shall then 
be spiritual, glorified beings. We shall see Him 
just as we see each other now. We often pray 
to God, "Make Yourself more real than my sense 
of feeling, taste or smell;" so it will be in that 
day. God Himself shall dwell in them, and walk 
with them, but this is true only in the Spirit now. 
Even Christ can be with them only in the Spirit, 
but then it will be the Father, the Son and the 
Spirit, and oh what a tabernacle of worship we 



243 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



shall have. My soul pants for that time soon to 
come and be with the Godhead I adore and love. 

And then in the sixth place, there will be as a 
result, new life. 

€f And God shall wipe away every tear from their 
eyes; and death shall be no more, neither sorrow, nor 
crying, neither shall there be any more pain : (because) 
the former things passed away. Rev. 21 :4. 

Life for the eyes; eyes all bright and smiling 
now. No more tears. The eyes are cured for- 
ever. No more blindness, no more burning eyes, 
no more salty tears, no more furrowed cheeks. 
That is the life we shall have. Then hearts will 
be cured. All heart-faints will be over, all heavy 
hearts gone; no more heart-sorrow forever. If 
I could go through this world and steal all the 
sorrow away from every heart, what a magic 
that would be! But oh there is a life where it 
will never come again. Isn't that worth giving 
your heart to God for ? 

He says also there will be no more death. Oh 
praise God there will be no more funerals, no 
more grief, no need of undertakers, because the 
great Undertaker will have done it all. He will 
have finished it, and there will be no more death. 
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. 
We saw that in Chapter 20:14; Death and the 
grave were cast into the lake of fire, because 
they were instruments of the devil. And that is 
not all ; he says there will be no more crying. He 
will cure that poor mouth of ours that has been 
complaining and crying these many, many years. 



244 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



Think of it! No more crying, not even from 
the babe. No more cry will go up any more for- 
ever. There will be no cause for it. It will all 
be music, song and Psalm, hallelujah and shout 
forevermore. 

There will be no more pain. Oh, beloved, we 
shall not know we have nerves at all. If you 
had seen trouble as I have, in visiting the sick, 
you would be glad to get a book that would tell 
you there shall some time be no more pain. 
Thank God, it will not always be as it is now. 

Then I read in the seventh place of a new ad- 
ministration, a new order, for he says, "the 
former things are passed away." 

C[ And He that sitteth upon the throne said, "Behold 
I make all things new." Rev. 21 :5. 

There is new power, new dominion, new ad- 
ministration. These are the new things that re- 
sult from the millennial reign. Then comes the 
declaration, "Write, because these words are 
faithful and true." No mistake about it. He 
can do it, He will do it, He shall do it, and when 
it comes to this time, He has done it. And then, 
here is a precious thing — something that I think 
of so much in these days, three words that I have 
marked in red in my New Testament for years 
and years. Three times in this book the Son of 
God comes out of heaven ; three times He has 
said these three living words, "It is done." It 
is like past, present and future ; yesterday, today 
and forever. "It is done." Once He said it 



245 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



from the cross yonder on Calvary (John 19:30) ; 
Matthew and Mark and even Luke says He cried 
with a loud voice and gave up the spirit, but 
they do not tell what He said. But John who 
had his ear so close and who knew the cry of 
the Savior so well, knew what He said in that 
mighty, eternal, masterful word, and he wrote 
it in his Gospel, "It is done!" Again, not from 
the cross, but in Chapter 16:17 of this book, 
from the temple that is opened in heaven, pre- 
paring for His epiphany, He says these three 
great words, "It is done !" And now as He comes 
on His own throne, His great throne of glory, 
to sit with His Bride as ruler with Him, He says 
from the throne, "// is done!" First, from the 
cross, in regard to the finished work for sin, by 
redemption; second, from the temple in regard 
to the end and accomplishment of all judgment 
that must meet in the temple, for "judgment 
must begin at the house of God;" and the third 
time from the throne, as an accomplishment of 
all glory. 

"Marvellous are Thy works; (O God) and 
that my soul knoweth right well." 

Then there is the great inheritance to which 
my text introduced you, and over which you 
have to shout. It is, 

*I He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and 
I will be his God, and he shall be My son. Rev. 21 :7. 

Everything is here given of the eternal king- 
dom which Christ promised to the little flock in 
Luke 12 :32, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your 

24fr 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



Father's good pleasure to give you the king- 
dom." This is the kingdom, the eternal king- 
dom of glory, for Christ has finished it and ac- 
complished it and turns it back to the Father 
again, as you find in I. Cor. 15:24-28. For this 
is the kingdom which He has accomplished, and 
which He turns over to the Father, "that God 
might be all in all." And now, "he that over- 
cometh" gets the inheritance — the whole thing. 

"Then cometh the end," that is after the 
millennium. "Then cometh the end, when He 
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even 
the Father; when He shall have put down all 
rule and all authority and power," through the 
millennial reign of a thousand years. 

At the great final battle fire comes down from 
heaven and consumes all the enemies, and Satan 
is put into the lake that burns with fire and brim- 
stone. So He has "put down all rule and all 
authority and power. For He must reign, till 
He hath put all enemies under His feet. The 
last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For 

He hath put all things under His feet And 

when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then 
shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him 
that put all things under Him, that God may be 
all in all." 

"Fear not, little flock !" Don't fear, brother, 
sister, after the altar service is over, and the 
revival is over, and you are back, living in the 
old hard place. Don't fear. "Fear hath tor- 
ment." You get into perfect love with God. 

247 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



"He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 
Oh, let the "love of the Spirit" swallow up all 
your fear. Live in confidence that He that called 
you is able also to do it. He will keep you from 
falling, keep you blameless and present you fault- 
less with exceeding joy. 

Then we have the queen's palace, the Bride's 
home, spoken of in verses 9 to 21. I call it the 
queen's palace. Oh think of what a place this is ! 
Here are twelve gates, twelve angels who are the 
gate-keepers, twelve names on the gates accord- 
ing to the twelve tribes of Israel. Here are 
twelve pearls, for each gate is a pearl on hinges 
of gold. Here are twelve foundations with great 
and precious stones, twelve names of apostles 
of the Lamb on the twelve foundation stones. 
Here is the city fifteen hundred miles long, 
fifteen hundred miles wide, and fifteen hundred 
miles high, a cube, a perfect city, longer than 
from Kansas City to New York, and as wide as 
that and as high. Talk about your thirty or 
forty stories, they are no comparison. 

After naming the twelve foundation stones, he 
comes down to the last item in this chapter, the 
eternal light of that city. "I saw no temple 
therein." Why? Because God and the Lamb 
are the temple, and there is no sun nor moon, 
because they are the light. They become temple 
and light and blessing all combined. "I am the 
light of the world," He said when He was here. 
"As long as I am in the world, I am the light of 
the world. Any man that followeth me shall not 

248 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



walk in darkness, but have the light of life," and 
we will dwell in the light of His glory, and in 
the glory of His light. 

Wonderful! I anticipate that the earth will 
need no ordinary sun or moon in that sense, as 
Isaiah predicts, but that "the light of the moon 
shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of 
the sun sevenfold," in the day that the Lord 
shall bring in His kingdom. That may be the 
sun as the Lord Himself, and the moon, as His 
Bride, reflecting His light. Oh there is light for 
the whole world, reflecting seven times. But 
there can be no light apart from the Lord. 

And then, perfect safety. You don't need to 
shut the doors or the gates. Don't need any 
locks or bolts at all. This is the queen's palace 
where I expect to live. This is for the Bride. 
This is not heaven. This comes down out of 
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her hus- 
band, because it is the habitation of the Bride, 
the queen's palace. Those people who are merely 
saved and nothing more, do not get in there. Ah 
no! But the 144,000 and the first and second 
sections of tribulation saints enter as servants. 

€J And the kings of the earth do bring their glory 
unto it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by 
day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall 
bring the glory and honor of the nations unto it. And 
there shall in no wise enter into it anything common, 
neither whosoever worketh abomination, and a lie: but 
those who have been written in the Lamb's book of 
life. Rev. 21:24-27. 



249 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



The Eternal Glory. 

Chapter 22, a few closing remarks: This is 
Division 7, the last division of the book. My 
heart is so absorbed in God that I can hardly 
speak. As you read this blessed last chapter 
over and over, as I have done, surely your 
hearts will glow with joy at the Consummation. 
First, here is a fact that in this perfect condition 
of things in this city, and in this new order of 
things, there are twelve crops a year. All the 
land advertisers who promise three and four 
crops can take in their signs; here are twelve, 
one every month. The tree of life is now grow- 
ing along the river of life, and he says he saw this 
river of life flowing perpendicularly down from 
the throne of God, the river clear as crystal. 

The tree of life bore twelve manner of fruits, 
fruit every month. I suppose buds, blossoms and 
fruit in their various stages, a sort of orange- 
tree type. Here it is, perfect food, the very 
leaves are for the healing of the nations, right 
down here on the earth; everything will then be 
in perfect order. 

Second, of those who serve, it is said, 

^ And they shall see His face; and His name shall 
be on their foreheads. Rev. 22:4. 

This takes us back to the 144,000, and the 
tribulation saints, for he is not talking about the 
Bride. He is talking about the tribulation saints. 
No one comes into this city to dwell but the four 
and twenty elders, the four living creatures, and 

250 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



the Bride of the Lamb. These are first-rank 
saints, but those mentioned in verse 4 are second- 
rank saints. "Every man in his own order;" 
these enter as servants only. 

If I was only to have souls saved "so as by 
fire," I might take the easier way, but I know 
the hope of my calling. What have I sold out 
for? Have I, as Paul wrote to the Galatians, 
"suffered so many things in vain?" No, sir, I am 
glad that I did it, and shall be glad to minister 
unto the end, even if it should mean martyrdom. 

I know the hope of my calling — "sealed by the 
Holy Spirit of promise, the earnest of inheritance 
unto tire time of our redemption in glory." Oh 
it means something! I'd like to thrill your 
hearts with a new desire, to put before your 
minds a new vision, a new hope. Rise up from 
your place, wherever you are, brother, in the old 
shop; sister, in the old kitchen; rise up and get 
a vision of God, and live the overcomer's life 
there, and you shall reign with Jesus and judge 
the world, and angels too. 

Who am I that I should minimize God's mighty 
declaration. I have believed it, I have enjoyed 
it. I have been blessed by it for a quarter of a 
century. Oh "cast not away therefore your con- 
fidence, which hath great recompense of reward. 
For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have 
done the will of God, ye might receive the 
promise." Heb. 10:35, 36. 

"He that overcometh shall inherit these things ; 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 

and I will be His God and he shall be My son." 
Isn't it good? 

1$ And there shall be no more night; and they have 
no need of the light of candle, and light of the sun; 
because the Lord God will lighten them; and they shall 
reign forever and ever. Rev. 22:5. 

David reigned a good long time, and so did 
Solomon. Queen Victoria had a wonderful 
reign, but here is a reigning dynasty into which 
we have been born that lasts forever and ever; 
unto the ages of ages. There is no breaking up 
of this kingdom. The prophets tell us, the 
saints shall possess the kingdom, (Dan. 7:18), 
and of His kingdom there shall be no end (Isa. 
9:7), for the Ancient of Days shall come and 
they shall possess it. Oh brother, sister, you 
won't complain any more, will you ? Let us silence 
all our sighs, stop all our complaining. Let us 
"do all things without murmurings or disput- 
ings." Wouldn't that make a happy home? 

*I And he said unto me, "These words are faithful and 
true: and the Lord God of the spirits of the prophets 
sent His angels to show unto His servants things which 
must come to pass speedily. And behold, I come quick- 
ly : blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy 
of this book." Rev. 22 :6, 7. 

The Conclusion. 

"Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book: 
for the time is nigh" Rev. 22:10. 

Keep it open! Keep it open from this time 
forth. Keep it going, it will soon be fulfilled. 

<| "He that doeth unjustly, let him do unjustly still: 
(and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still:) and he 
that is righteous, let him work righteousness still: and 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



he that is holy, let him be holy still. Behold I come 
quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to every 
man according as his work is. I am the Alpha and 
the Omega, First and Last, the Beginning and the End. 
Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may 
have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through 
the gates into the city. Without are dogs, and sorcer- 
ers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, 
and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Rev. 22:11- 
15. 

This conclusion says the time is nigh. Keep 
things open, and as it draws nigh, things will be- 
come fixed. Things are getting so fixed that all 
the Gospel you can pour in upon some does not 
move them. But "in the morning sow thy seed, 
and in the evening withhold not thy hand." 
Nevertheless, people will stop their ears, and will 
not go where the Gospel is preached, but you 
can pack the theatres at prices ranging from one 
dollar to ten dollars a seat. The motives and 
purposes of men are getting cold and set. 

Three Last Things. 
First, the last invitation: 

1 1 Jesus sent Mine angel to testify unto you these 
things in the churches. I am the Root and the offspring 
of David, the bright, the morning Star. And the 
Spirit and the bride say, "Come," And let him that 
heareth say, "Come." And let him that is athirst come. 
He who willeth let him take of the water of life freely. 
Rev. 22:16,17. 

This the last great invitation is sent out, and 
thank God it is a standing invitation, to "whoso- 
ever will" Our wills and His life are inter- 
twined, unchangeable and corelated. He must 
have our will if we are to have His life. You 



253- 



THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST 



cannot have the life of God and keep your old 
sinful, carnal will. It is a great fundamental 
principle that if we are to have His life, He must 
have our wills. "But as many as received Him 
to them gave He power to become the sons of 
God, to them that believe on His Name, which 
were born not of blood, nor of the will of the 
flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." Don't 
make an excuse, but will to have His life. There 
are not devils enough in hell, nor imps enough 
on earth to keep us from the life and love of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. It is ours freely and nobody 
can keep it from us. 

Second, the last warning : 

^ I testify unto every one that heareth the words of 
the prophecy of this book, If any one shall add unto 
these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that 
have been written in this book ; and if any one shall take 
away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God 
shall take away his part from the tree of life, and from 
the holy city, which have been written of in this book. 
Rev. 22:18,19. 

A solemn word to all who read or hear these 
things ! Be careful how you treat "the words of 
this book." Your judgment, your final place is 
to be determined by your attitude to its message. 
If you add to these words, God shall iadd to you ; 
if you take away from the message, God shall 
take away from your part. Let us not change 
its message or meaning, but let us bring to it such 
yielded hearts and obedient minds, that we may 
be "transformed by the renewing of our minds," 
and become the "overcomers" who shall inherit 
all its new and glorious consummations. 



254 



THE CONSUMMATION OF ALL THINGS 



Third, the last promise. The book ends with 
promise and with grace, as the Old Testament 
did with a curse. 

€J He who testifieth these things saith, "Yea, I come 
quickly:" Amen; come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the 
Lord Jesus Christ be with the saints. Rev. 22:20,21. 

Yes, here is the promise of the Lord's speedy 
Paroiisia. The heavenly messengers said to the 
lingering, longing, disciples on Olivet, as they 
saw Him vanish out of their sight in His glorious 
ascension, "This same Jesus shall come in like 
manner/' 

Paul says, "Unto them that look for Him shall 
He appear the second time," etc. And "to those 
who love His appearing," He will give the crown 
of righteousness, for "when He shall appear we 
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 

And with this promise, there is given grace to 
be ready; and the trusting, obedient, serving, 
suffering, patient, ready Body of Christ, cleansed 
by His blood, comforted by His Spirit, answers 
the whispered promise of her beloved "Head" — 
"Amen ; Come, my Lord Jesus" 

Will you meet me in the Home-land bright, 
Where no sorrows come, no pain, no night; 
Christ has gone a mansion to prepare — 
Will you, will you meet me there? 

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with 
the saints" 

AMEN. 



255 



CHRISTIAN [LITERATURE 



The Latter Bain Pentecost 

By D. WESLEY 3IYLAND 

The special outpouring of the Holy Spirit within the 
last five years throughout the entire world, has brought 
forth a great deal of literature on the subject of the 
''Latter Rain" and the Pentecostal baptism. While 
much has been written that is helpful and good, nothing 
has been published that is so comprehensive and inspir- 
ing as "The Latter Rain Pentecost." It throws light 
on scriptures which have been veiled for centuries, and 
through the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, they 
are unfolded by the author with a wonderful simplicity. 
The scriptures on this subject were opened up to the 
author at the time of his Pentecostal baptism and 
miraculous deliverance from blood poisoning, which 
occurred on November 3, 1906, after twenty-one days 
of intense suffering. Full details of this and other ex- 
periences are given in the seventh chapter entitled, "In 
Deaths Oft," which is doubtless one of the most re- 
markable descriptions of a seven-fold deliverance from 
death through the power of God, that has ever been 
recorded. 

The earnest seeker after God can find nothing more 
satisfying and helpful outside of the Bible than this 
inspiring book. The second edition has recently been 
issued. 

Cloth, 190 pages, 50 cts.; paper, 30 cts.; postage, 5 cts. 



Mountain Peaks of Prophecy and Sacred 

History By w. h. cossum, a. m. 

A book for these days, dealing with prophetic events, 
past, present and future. This is not a dry, heavy ex- 
position of prophecy, but vivid and fascinating, and 
intensely interesting to everyone who is concerned in 
prophetic events and their fulfilment. The contents of 
the chapters are as follows : 

I. Prophecy — Value of Prophetic Study — God Vindi- 
cates Himself — The Past Pledges the Future. 

II. The Indestructible Jew — The Chosen of God — 
The Miracle of the Ages — His Dispersion and Restora- 
tion. 



CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 



III. The Zionist Movement — Dreyfus, Herzl, Hirsch, 
etc. — Unconscious Fulfillers of Prophecy — Mesopotamia 
— Palestine — Pathetic Destiny. 

IV. Jerusalem — The Religious Center of the World 
— The Great Feasts — Her Wealth — Often Destroyed — 
Worst Yet to Come. 

V. The Land of Israel — Promised to Abraham — Her 
Conquest— The Mediterranean Sea and the Persian 
Gulf — Present Movements in and toward Palestine — 
Her Railroads, etc. — The Glory of the Land. 

VI. The Jew and Pentecost — Israel, the Key to 
Human History and Human Destiny — The Jew Inter- 
prets Pentecost — The Jew and Evangelization — Over- 
lapping of Dispensations. 

VII. Antichrist — Spirit of Federation — Islam and 
Israel — Rationalist Jew and Christian — The Triangular 
Marriage—- Young Turk and Mesopotamia — The Great 
Tribulation. 

VIII. Babylon — First and Second Babylon — Babel 
and Pentecost — Babel Disappears as Pentecost Develops 
— Rebuilding and Destruction of Second Babylon — The 
Jew and Wealth — Commercialism. 

IX. The Coming of the King — Covenant of Jehovah 
with His Son, His Anointed — Adonijah and Solomon — 
Antichrist and Christ — "Born King of the Jews" — King 
of Truth and Love — His Rule in Righteousness and 
Peace. 

The book also contains two maps: one of Asia Minor, 
Palestine, Mesopotamia, etc., showing railroads now 
under construction and those projected; the other is a 
map of the Eastern continent, showing this land of 
destiny in its relation to the rest of the world. 

The book contains 195 pages, well bound in cloth, 65 
cts.; postage, 5 cts. (3s). 



Foxe's Book of Martyrs 

Prepared by W. GRIJYTON-BERRY, B. A. 

The title of this book is all suggestive, and too well 
known to need any explanation. While the original 
author, John Foxe, narrated at great length the ex- 
amination of the Martyrs before the judges, and has 
gone into lengthy dissertations on general religious his- 
tory, the editor of this edition has condensed much of 
this and avoided many repetitions, yet at the same time 



CHRISTIAN LITERATURE 



omitting nothing of vital or of real interest to the 
reader of today. 

The book begins with the martyrdom of the apostles, 
and continues through the history of the Christian 
Church as she suffered under Pagan and Papal Rome, 
until the end of the sixteenth century. 

Here we learn of the great heroes of the cross; of 
Ignatius, who succeeded Peter as Bishop of Antioch, 
and who helped to put on his own chains before being 
martyred; of Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna, whose body 
could not be consumed by fire; of Romanus, who re- 
joiced as they gashed his cheeks with knives, that he 
had many gaping wounds to preach Christ; of John 
Wycliff, the Morning Star of the Reformation, of John 
Huss and William Tyndale, of Ridley and Latimer, and 
a host of others who burned at the stake, suffered on 
the rack, and were cruelly tortured, of whom the world 
was not worthy, but who endured as seeing Him who 
was invisible. 

The book contains 409 pages, well bound in cloth. 
Price, 7$ cts.; postage, 10 cts. 



From Death to Life 

An Autobiography by ANNA W. PROSSER 

A wonderful record of a wonderful life. The gifted 
author who was reared in luxury, writes with a beauti- 
ful simplicity of her life, how as she was entering upon 
a gay "society" life, with plans for a ''butterfly" career, 
she is suddenly stricken in body, and going down into 
death is raised up into life and health. 

From the time of her salvation and miraculous heal- 
ing, her life is filled with loving service for God and 
humanity, being used in the salvation and healing of 
many. 

The book also contains much helpful teaching along 
the line of divine healing, sanctification, the crucifixion 
of the self life, and the baptism in the Holy Spirit. 

A closing chapter has been added to the second edition 
of the book, by her foster-daughter, who was left in 
charge of the Mission and Home founded by Miss 
Prosser. Mrs. Carrie Judd Montgomery, an intimate 
friend of the author, has written an appreciative intro- 
duction to the second edition. 

Bound in cloth, 240 pages. Price, $1.00. 



C H R 1 S T I A N 



LITERATURE 



The Latter Rain Evangel 

^ An international Monthly Magazine of 24 pages, pub- 
lished by Wm. Hammer Piper, at 10 cents per copy, 
$1.00 per year (4s 2d). 

This is a live, deeply spiritual paper, standing for the 
fulness of the Gospel, the gifts and graces of the Holy 
Spirit, and giving interesting accounts of the outpouring 
of the Holy Spirit in these days. 

The paper also contains helpful lessons along the line 
of divine guidance, deep spiritual instruction, scriptural 
exposition and exhortation for the earnest seeker after 
God, and warnings against the growing apostasy and 
false doctrines of the latter times. 

Send for sample copy. 



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